Who's the Next Door?
by bambu1101
Summary: Sequel to The Boy Next Door. Finn & Rachel live together in Mrs. Weston's apartment. One day, a young married couple moved to the next door which was once Rachel's, and next day the wife is missing. Rachel is suspicious the husband may be involved in, determined to get to the bottom in spite of Finn's opposition. Slapstick comedy-ish. M for language and mature contents. AU Finchel
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Sequel to 'The Boy Next Door,' inspired by Woody Allen's 'Manhattan Murder Mystery.' Unlike the movie, Finn and Rachel are neither in a rough patch period, nor married yet, but living together for about a year and a half in Mrs. Weston's former apartment (yes, Finn bought it). I don't think those who haven't read 'The Boy Next Door' need to read it for this story. I'm now in the middle of finishing the last two chapters of 'Maybe Someday' and a new one (one shot), but suddenly the idea popped up in my head, I can't help. Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy it!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Glee and its characters, and any resemblance to real persons or organizations is purely coincidental.**

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><p><strong>Friday, November 20, 2015<strong>

Soon as she got to the apartment from the Gershwin Theatre, Rachel let out a loud sigh. Theatrical Protective Union Number One of IATSE had decided earlier to go on a strike against the Shubert, Jujamcyn, and Nederlander theaters, which meant that all the shows had been halted, and the actors were obliged to make a U-turn to their home.

She threw herself onto the bed dramatically before rolling over on the back. She glanced at the time on the night table; it was 1:45 pm. There were still about 4 hours left for her boyfriend to be home. The Jack Russell Terrier, Rusty looked up at her from the floor, wagging his tail expectantly. She sighed.

Rachel Barbra Berry hated boredom. Other than her taking care of their dog and the British Shorthair, Ms. Bonaparte, what was she going to do until the strike was called off? She didn't know how long it would take to reach an agreement between the two parties.

Slightly pouting, she sat up and looked down at the pillow on the other side of the bed. But her eyes lightened up immediately when she shifted them from the bed to the calendar hanging on the wall.

Oh, yes!

Today was Friday, and all the schools would be closed next week, which meant that she could do whatever she wanted to with Finn all day for nine consecutive days if the strike would be going on (except the next Wednesday for participating Finn's family dinner)! It had been a long time for her to be allowed to do that since she got a part, Elphaba from _Wicked_ last year.

Rachel threw back the comforter and jumped out of the bed before rushing into one of the closets that only her clothes were put in, which caused Rusty to misunderstand her playing with him or giving him a new toy. She stopped her hands from opening the closet door and looked down at the dog.

"Sorry, Rusty." Rachel said apologetically. "Give me a half hour."

Once she resumed rummaging in the closet, her mind drifted to their potential sexual activities, _food involved_, which Finn had always been making his suit to her along with the words 'once in a life time.'

She usually dismissed his idea of anything involving food _in bed_, although he was allowed to have sex with her _and_ food in the kitchen, or the other places except for the bedroom for that matter. She didn't want to spoil her luxury Egyptian cotton sheets made in Italy. In this regard, Kurt, her boyfriend's stepbrother, was totally on her side. You could see that Finn's resistance was futile.

But, being the _awesome_ girlfriend (not her words, but his, by the way) as she was, she had secretly bought not so expensive but silky feel bed sets _and_ a waterproof pad (she had ignored Kurt's quizzical _why-do-you-need-those_ look at their shopping excursion, of course, because she was sure that he didn't want to know the exact reason).

She giggled, remembering Finn's puppy dog eyes and adorable pout when he pleaded for having sex along with food in bed, as she pulled the large box out of the back of the closet. Then she returned to the bed in order to replace the Egyptian cotton bed sets with the ones for special bed activities.

Rusty, as if he had known what she was thinking, narrowed his eyes before he walked out of the bedroom with a wry face.

* * *

><p>"Hold the elevator!" Rachel cried out, a paper bag full of groceries in one hand, the other gripping the leash, "hold the elevator!" She called again. "Hello again, Nikolay," she greeted without looking at the doorman before rushing into the elevator.<p>

"Thank you." Panting, Rachel appreciated without looking up. Then she finally lifted her head up to see whoever had waited for her to get in the elevator. "Hi."

"Hi, I think I see you on the same floor." The blonde girl, who looked like born with a silver spoon in her mouth and a big younger than Rachel, chirpily announced.

"Oh, so you two are the ones who have moved in 5B?" Rachel asked.

The girl nodded with a big smile. "I'm Sugar. This is," she slightly turned her head in the direction where a guy with brown hair was standing, "Biff McIntosh, my husband." Sugar turned to see Rachel again and offered a hand for her to shake.

"Rachel, living in 5A with my boyfriend Finn." Rachel managed to take her hand with the one holding the leash. "Pleased to meet you, Sugar." She shifted her hand to the guy standing behind Sugar. "And," she gestured to the dog politely sitting on the floor, "this is Rusty."

Rachel tried to summon her actress skill to suppress the urge of frowning as he didn't say a word, just nodded in a swanky manner when they shook hands, before sending his eyes back on his cell phone. The blue eyed guy named Biff, looked like the same age as Finn. He wore a dark blue preppy suit and a light blue gingham check shirt.

"—ner tonight?"

"Huh?" Rachel snapped out as Sugar continued talking in a bubbly manner. "Sorry, come again?" She stepped out of the elevator with Sugar, Biff in tow.

"Why don't you come in for a dinner tonight? With your boyfriend?" Sugar clasped her hands in front of chest with pleading eyes. "We're strangers in New York, so I'd like to get acquainted with you two over a dinner."

"Oh, um, I'd love to. Would you mind if I answer that later?" Rachel asked. "I'll text my boyfriend to ask if he has a plan for tonight."

"Not at all." Sugar answered. "I'll be in our apartment all day, so, let me know when your boyfriend replies."

Rachel nodded, out of the corner of her eyes glancing at the preppy guy who waited for his wife to finish the chat, already getting the door for her, but his eyes still glued to the cell phone.

"Okay, see you later!" With that, Sugar skipped into their apartment.

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><p>"They are," Finn took a pause as he entered their bedroom which once had been Mrs. Weston's guestroom, "uh, kinda piece of work." He sat on the edge of the bed, loosening his tie in one hand, the other unconsciously caressing the bed sheet.<p>

"Hmm." Rachel perched herself down on the spot next to Finn, recalling the apartment which was completely different from the one she used to live.

As if neither Sugar nor Biff were willing to settle themselves there, the apartment was… minimal. They seemed like those who needed a big walk-in closet, especially Mrs. McIntosh did one which Carrie Bradshaw fantasized, the apartment could be for two persons, but not for two rich ones, as far as Rachel was concerned. The food Sugar had served was apparently catered from Jefferson Market.

"Rach? Babe? Are you listening?" Already in his old sweats with a down jacket, Finn asked as he stood in front of Rachel expectantly.

Rachel shot up her head to see her boyfriend. "Oh, I'll come, I'll come." She shook her head and hurriedly took off her heels to change into her UGG as Finn grabbed the leash and a tennis ball.

"You didn't answer my question." Finn said as he made his way over to the front door with Rusty on the leash.

"Huh?" Rachel absent-mindedly replied, slipping into her coat.

"Your chocolate ricotta cake." Finn repeated. "You said that wasn't supposed to be for a dinner with them." He pressed the button of the elevator while Rachel locked the front door. "What was that for, then?"

"Oh, right. That." Rachel he approached him and the dog, biting her lower lip, her hands wringing beside her body.

Finn arched his eyebrow. He didn't miss the pink color on Rachel's cheeks.

"That was supposed to be for you," Rachel cleared her throat, "actually, for _us_." She confided as she stepped into the elevator.

Following her into the elevator, Finn's eyes twinkled at her implication; Rachel, Sex and Food, those were the three major favorites of his world. Combining the three was icing on the cake. But immediately the stars in his eyes disappeared. "But it's gone." He said in disappointment.

"I'll make another one or your other favorite tomorrow." Rachel assured, squeezing his arm. "I already changed our bed sheets, so…" She sheepishly looked up at her boyfriend through her eyelashes.

"Speaking of the sh–" It took approximately ten seconds for Finn to get what Rachel had insinuated. "Oh. _Oh_."

"I texted you about the strike, didn't I?" Rachel began. "So, you'll have me all weekend, and next week too, I guess." She skipped to the lobby. "And I'll have a plenty of time to do the laundry!" She cried over her shoulder.

A goofy grin began invading his face, his mind already going to millions directions, which, Rusty's warning with yips in vain, caused Finn to clumsily stumble at the elevator threshold.

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><p><em>THUD!<em>

Rachel's eyes flew open.

_THUD!_

Rachel pushed her upper body with her arms from the bed. "Finn! Wake up!" She shook the large frame beside her, trying to wake him up.

"Hmm."

"Finn! _Finn!_" Rachel whisper-shouted, yanking his arm.

Still closing his eyes, Finn's arm automatically reached her waist, "I think you're trying to kill me, but," a muffled voice leaked from the pillow as he pulled her closer to him, "I can manage to do it again, babe," he nuzzled his face into her chest. "Just give me half an hour."

_THUD!_

"No! Finn, no!" Rachel tried to tear his face off her body. "Can you hear that?" She breathed. "I heard a strange sound coming from the front door."

Finn finally tilted his head up and looked at his girlfriend with one eye. "What are you talking about? I can hear nothing."

As if Finn were a prophet, it fell utterly silent subsequent minutes.

"See?" Finn scooped the tiny body of his girlfriend, "it was just your imagination, or nightmare or something." He started kissing on her neck as he pulled her (his) T-shirt off of her head.

"I hope." Rachel murmured as she closed her eyes and tilted her head for him to access more easily. By the time her boyfriend hand slipped into her panties and his lips reached her secret spot on the back of her neck, she completely forgot the strange sounds. "Oohhhfff, _Finn_."

"I know, baby, I know." Finn whispered in her ear as he gently rubbed her clit. Then he climbed on top of her and firmly pressed his lips on hers. He deepened the kiss as his left hand caressed her perky nipple, the other still giving a gentle ministration on her wet fold.

Rachel thread her fingers through his messy hair before catching her breath from the previous passionate kiss, "Finn, I-I–"

"What do you want?" Finn asked into her mouth before he brushed his lips on hers. "Tell me what you want."

"I want your mou–"

_THUD!_

Rachel abruptly sat up when she heard the noise.

"Aw, aw, awwwww!" Finn groaned loudly, rolling over on the back, rubbing his forehead. His eyes were already watering from the pain.

"_SHHHHHH!_" Rachel hissed, "Did you hear?" Not aware the throbbing foreheads of her boyfriend _and_ her own, she cupped her ear with one hand, the forefinger of the other onto her lips. "Go look at the front door." She whispered, pushing Finn's body out of the bed, before picking her T-shirt up from the floor.

Finn sighed, his hand still on his forehead, as he slowly got out of the bed.

"Hurry, Finn, go see where the noise's coming from." Rachel bossed, shooshing with a waving hand, clutching the T-shirt around her chest with the other hand.

Plumping his shoulders down with a slight pout, Finn walked over towards the front door with his bare feet.

Finn looked outside of their apartment through the peephole, only to find… nothing. He turned his head around as he heard the footsteps of Rachel's bare feet. "Nothing's there, Rach."

"Really? I heard the thud sounds four times." Rachel insisted with a frown.

"Maybe Mr. Figgins of the upstairs was rearranging his furniture or something?" Finn shrugged.

"It's almost 4 am, Finn."

"Yeah, but, he sometimes vacuums early in the morning." Finn started making his way to the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" Rachel followed him.

"I need an ice pack. You need one too." Finn gestured to her forehead.

"Oh." Her hand flew to her forehead, "aww." She finally realized a bump on her forehead. She could see one on his forehead too. "I'm sorry." She murmured, her eyes casting down with embarrassment.

"It's alright," Finn assured as he pressed his lips to her temple, "only if you make _two_ more cakes with whipped cream." He grinned at his girlfriend as he opened the fridge.

Rachel giggled. "I can handle that."

Finn passed an ice pack to Rachel. "Now, time for bed."

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><p><strong>Please review :)<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and the responses!**

**FYI: This is not a detective story because I totally did and will break its writing laws; Knox's Ten Commandments and Twenty rules for writing detective stories by S. S. Van Dine. In that respect, W. Allen's 'Manhattan Murder Mystery' isn't a mystery fiction, either (well, I believe that the movie should be classified into comedy, even if Mr. Allen didn't break the detective story's writing law—I discovered the other day that one of the DVD stores nearby my apartment displayed the movie on the detective story shelf. What?).**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Glee and its characters, and any resemblance to real persons or organizations is purely coincidental.**

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><p><strong>Saturday, November 21, 2015<strong>

When Rachel was eyeing right and left, to walk across a street with Rusty on a leash, chirpy voice stopped her from behind. She spun around. The voice came from the person she had predicted.

"Good morning, Sugar."

"Where are you going?" the young housewife asked, her face half hidden by her sunglasses.

Like the previous night, Sugar was wearing Chanel. This time was not a vintage tweed pink jacket, but a gray sweats jumpsuit, a big pink logo emphasizing its brand name on her right chest. Stepping out of the apartment building, she ran up to Rachel.

"To the dog park," Rachel informed sweetly. "And you?"

The one thing Rachel had learned over the dinner at the previous night was Sugar was talkative. One master of '_nobody speaks until I finish_.' Way more than Rachel would be.

In addition, the dinner conversation had been mostly about her haute couture wardrobe. Rachel should have called Kurt to join. If she would know a subject Sugar would bring up.

And she was now going on and on as to how important her every morning jog and going to the gym regularly were for her to keep her body fitted, especially since she had a sweet tooth.

"Oh, and my husband loved your cake, so you can come over to share your recipe this afternoon. You said you're going to bake Caramel Apple Brownies, right? Text me the ingredients you need later, and I'll get them for both of us. But don't forget your utensils with you, 'cause I have none! Bye!"

"I–"

Rachel was about to politely decline, but the bubbly blonde in Chanel already turned the corner, disappearing out of her sight.

Rachel sighed. Finn was going to bowl with his friends this afternoon, and she was willing to tag along with him.

Well, she couldn't have come with her boyfriend to begin with, if the strike hadn't been conducted. So, it wasn't big of a deal for both of them, as long as she and a cake with whipped cream waited for him to get home, right? Besides, she must socialize with her neighbors to know well about them.

Rachel shrugged and began to cross a street.

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><p>"You don't come?" secretly relieved, casually asked Finn, only in a towel around his waist, as he emerged out of the bathroom.<p>

Don't get him wrong. He wanted to spend time with his girlfriend as much as he could. He just didn't want to postpone his plan any more. Hence, he needed Mike. Out of Rachel's eyeshot.

Other than Puck and Matt, his only married friend was Mike, the only one to get him through this. Because.

Matt had moved to Cincinnati a year before.

Puck? He was on the brink of divorce (no doubt that the Mohawk made a federal case out of it though). Didn't want a jinx.

Sam? The guy who had been laughed off by his high school sweetheart attempting to give her a promise ring? No way.

Artie? He had just found out getting an STD. Uh-uh.

Kurt? Hell no. He was one of Rachel's best friends now. He couldn't keep his mouth shut. Neither did Blaine.

So, he had no other options.

Mike had been busy with his restaurant and his pregnant wife. He finally spared his schedule to join the guys' biweekly bowling. If Finn missed out on having a tête-à-tête with Mike this afternoon, his plan would be pushed back further.

"Too bad," Finn lied, wishing he sounded plausible. He grabbed his cell phone from the night table to text Mike.

"It is," Rachel responded as she put away Rusty's dog park kit into the closet. "Where do you think she keeps her clothes in the apartment?"

"Huh?" Finn shot his head up from his phone.

"Sugar. Her clothes. She probably has another apartment reserved only for her clothes and fetches them from there at night," Rachel perched herself on the edge of the bed, observing the bare back of her boyfriend. "That would be the sound I heard last night," she concluded, nodding to herself

"Rachel, no sounds were heard. Rusty'd notice before you," Finn pointed out, placing his phone on the chest of drawers, before pulling out his boxers and a pair of jeans from it.

Rachel tilted her head to one side.

Hmm. He had a point.

Wait.

No, he didn't have a point.

"Rusty gets used to the vacuum noise Mr. Figgins makes," Rachel countered. "Did you see his sleeping posture last night? On his back, Finn. He must have been worn out from his night exercise. Might well be out like a light."

"Maybe," Finn shrugged as he put his boxers on before turning around to face his girlfriend. He arched his eyebrow as he saw her licking her lips. "Like what you see?"

Instead of giving him her response, Rachel crawled backwards on the bed with her arms before lifting her skirt up, racing her own thigh with her fingertips. "Like what _you_ see?"

Grinning, Finn slowly climbed onto the bed and caged her tiny frame on all fours on top of her. "No whipped cream?"

"Save it for later," Rahel giggled before racing her fingers along his waistband. "How much time do you have left?"

Finn smirked, leaning down his face to her, whispering in her ear.

"A round or two."

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><p>At 1 pm on the dot, Rachel knocked on Mr. and Mrs. McIntosh's door, holding a carbon box filled with her utensils in one arm. However, nobody seemed to answer the door.<p>

Rachel pressed her ear against the door. She frowned. There was only silence.

Three more tries later, the door was finally answered. Not by Sugar, but by Biff. He frowned as he found Rachel standing behind the door. The guy looked like cranky as if Rachel forced him out of the bed. He was still in his PJ.

Rachel cleared her throat, summoning her best stage smile nonetheless. "Hi, Sugar asked me to come over at 1 pm."

"You must be wrong," Biff bluntly stated. "She's gone out. Expected to come home by the time for dinner, though." He informed petulantly.

"Are you sure?" Rachel arched her eyebrow. "She didn't say that when I saw her this morning," she started reciting the conversation with Sugar in the morning, showing the content of the box to Biff.

"But she's not here," Biff dismissed her off, rubbing his face tiredly.

"Okay," Rachel sighed, her voice deflated. "I'll be trying to reach her, but tell her to drop in at my apartment when she comes back."

"Sure," as soon as Biff threw his last word at Rachel, he shut his door in front of her face before she could say goodbye or see you later.

How rude!

Rachel huffed before turning on her heel towards her apartment.

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><p>Still annoyed at the attitude Biff had given to her, Rachel started pulling the ingredients for the brownies from her grocery bag, placing them on the kitchen counter. She, however, completely calmed down by the time she began stirring coconut whipped cream—cooking and baking always calmed her nerves.<p>

When she pulled the Pyrex dish out of the oven and put it on the wire rack to let it cool, her cell phone buzzed. It was from Kurt.

Rachel and Kurt had gotten on so well since they first met. He was her boyfriend's stepbrother, his boyfriend was her former costar, after all. And they had a lot of common, especially in love for Broadway.

**Code Yellow; Can I come over? – KEH**

Code yellow? Rachel frowned as she texted Kurt back.

**Sure. Do you want me to call the other girls? – Rachel***

Kurt immediately sent a reply.

**Sam brought Mercedes to Kentucky with him this weekend. Quinn and Puck had a huge fight and she stays in her parents' house with her kids in New Haven. Satan and Brit, well, I have no idea where they are. And Tina is pregnant. – KEH**

Hmm, which meant that he didn't want her to call the other girls, or he had attempted to reach them already.

**Okay then, see you later. – Rachel***

Wondering what was wrong with him, Rachel placed her cell phone on the kitchen counter before she resumed (Finn's) coconut whipped cream.

Approximately 20 minutes later, slightly puffy eyes Kurt Hummel arrived at her apartment.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked as soon as she answered the door. "What happened?"

Having deliberately placed his Gucci luggage by the coat rack in the entryway, Kurt mutely made a beeline for the sofa in the living room before plumping himself down into it. Rachel followed him.

Then he let out a dramatic sigh and looked up at Rachel, who was standing beside him with a worried look. "I need alcohol. I'm getting bottles of wine," he sprang to his feet to make his way over towards the pantry.

He, however, abruptly stopped when he passed by the kitchen. "No. I need this," he grabbed the Pyrex dish and the mixing bowl filled with coconut whipped cream.

"Oh, okay," confused with Kurt's demeanor, Rachel just nodded as she took the cutlery, paper napkins, and a small plate out of the cupboard, without thinking that Finn might be disappointed.

"Kurt, talk to me," Rachel said as he started devouring a piece of Caramel Apple Brownies."What happened?" Rachel examined his face, sitting on the sofa beside him.

Yet, Kurt was still mute, already reaching his second piece, splaying a big heap of whipped cream on it.

After his fifth piece, Kurt finally opened his mouth. "He cheated on me," he murmured.

"W-what?" Rachel gasped. "You mean, Blaine?"

"Of course. Who else would be?" Kurt rolled his eyes.

"But, with whom? H-how did it happen?" Rachel couldn't believe. Kurt might have been a crush on Blaine first, but Blaine seemed so much more in love with Kurt as the time passed.

Kurt took a deep breath. "You know, my company requires that I travel a lot? When I got back from the last trip, he was so emotional and weirdly sad. So, I told him to stop pretending that there was nothing wrong," he dropped his head, the prick of tears on the corner of his eyes. "He confessed that he was with someone."

"Was it," Rachel hesitated, "um, Sebastian?" she cautiously asked. She knew that Blaine's costar from _Jersey Boys_ was aggressively coming on to him, which made Kurt jealous and furious.

"I suspected," Kurt scooped his sixth piece from the dish on his plate, "but Blaine didn't identify the guy he'd cheated with," he put another heap of whipped cream from the bowl on it.

"He was making excuses, like, he was lonely, he needed me around, it was just a hookup," he took a big bite before swallowing it thickly and turning his head to face Rachel. "Can you believe that?" he tried to hold back his tears. "He didn't think that I'd been lonely too. He didn't think that I'd had temptations. But I didn't act on it because I knew what it meant!"

"Oh, Kurt," Rachel placed her hand on his arm before squeezing it. "I'm so sorry."

"So am I," Kurt wiped underneath his eyes with his thumb deliberately before resuming his Caramel Apple Brownies.

* * *

><p>"So?" Mike asked, perched himself across the table in a coffee shop, "what did you need to know?"<p>

Finn and Mike managed to knock off the bowling early; they lied to the other guys, saying that Mike had to get back to work and Finn to prepare for the parent/teacher conference, ignoring Puck's skeptical eyes.

"Uh, I'm," Finn shifted on the chair nervously, "I'm going to propose to Rachel."

"Dude, congratulations!" Mike fist-bumped Finn. "And?"

"I have absolutely no idea how to propose to her," Finn rubbed the back of his neck. "So, I was thinking that you could tell me yours."

Mike nodded thoughtfully and started telling his process and proposal to Tina.

Those, however, were not so useful to Finn. For one, Mike could have a private dinner in the back kitchen of his restaurant. For another, the engagement ring he had given her was an heirloom from his family.

"Have you thought that you would ask her fathers' permission?" Mike asked after his engagement story.

Finn groaned. It was not that he had never thought about it. Actually, he was going to secretly fly to Dayton next Saturday while Rachel was on stage for a matinee _and_ a regular performance at night. Not only that, he was going to shape his plan during the Thanksgiving holidays, purchasing an engagement ring included, by the next Sunday. However, the strike happened.

Finn let out a sigh. "Actually, I have. But, you know, the strike." he rubbed his face.

"I don't think you have to be worried about that department," Mike tried to cheer him up.

"Which one?" Finn asked with a quizzical look at the restaurant owner/executive chef.

"Her farthers' permission," Mike responded before giving him a full account of _Rachel Inter-course-vention_; to be or not to be.

Finn knew all too well about _Rachel Inter-course-vention_. He remembered she had told him as to how embarrassed she had felt after their reconciliation. He, however, didn't remember that she had told about the details of her fathers' comments.

"Wait," Finn stopped himself from chuckling, "Hiram might have given me his permission, but Leroy didn't." He gave a look to Mike. Besides, that had been long before all the things came out.

He knew that the Berrys were very open minded when it came to sex and relationships, and had much understanding of the Brody incident. That, however, didn't mean he had their blessing. Or did it?

"I think you should focus on an engagement ring," Mike pressed. "Why don't you just ask Kurt to help you out?"

"No way, uh-uh," Finn shook his head. "He can't keep his mouth shut. I'm not gonna ask him. Ever." He declared stubbornly. "Maybe I'll be asking my female colleagues at the parent/teacher conference."

"Well, good luck, anyway."

* * *

><p>"I'm home!"<p>

Finn called out from the front door as he threw his key into the bowl on the console table in the entryway. Then he was about to hang his coat on the clothes rack…

Something beside the rack stopped his hand.

A suitcase.

The familiar one.

"Rach? Babe? Why's K–"

Finn ceased from speaking as he entered the living room. His girlfriend and stepbrother passed out on the sofa, three bottles of wine on the coffee table. What the hell had been going on here while he had been out?

And, and… Oh, no.

No, no, no, no!

His Caramel Apple Brownies had gone!

His whipped cream had gone!

Finn dropped his head down at the realization that his stepbrother and girlfriend, for some reasons, had taken all the fun out of his night. He shook his head, beginning to put the bottles and dishes away from the coffee table…

Wait a second.

Rachel passed out. Which meant, as Mike had informed him, this was an excellent opportunity for him to measure her ring size; the third finger of her left hand.

On top of that, Finn had never seen his stepbrother look like this unarmed; snors came from his widely opened mouth, his hair went to million directions, his shirt got wrinkled, and, caramel sauce and some stains from red wine on his chest and on his chin!

Trying his best to suppress his chuckles, Finn pulled his cell phone out of his pocket before taking a picture of his stepbrother.

Satisfied. Finn smirked. Kurt deserved it; he had eaten his cake and whipped cream!

Then Finn suspended cleaning up and tiptoed over towards the bedroom, shooshing with his forefinger at Rusty following him.

Once getting into the bedroom, Finn started rummaging in her jewelry box before grabbing some of her rings, which he remembered that she would put on the third finger of her right hand more often than not.

Having managed to leave Rusty in the bedroom, he hurriedly, but quietly returned to the living room, taking a deep breath, approaching her sleeping posture on the sofa.

Damn.

Her left arm was folded under her chest.

Finn knelt down and nudged her arm a few times with his forefinger, trying to figure out that she would not wake up any minute. Then he slowly, and gently pulled her arm off in between her chest and his stepbrother's stomach.

Cleared the first hurdle.

Although almost stumbling backwards as Rachel turned over in her sleep, Finn narrowly was able to pull himself together before putting her rings one by one on her third finger.

The second hurdle got cleared.

And he finally found the one with flower shaped pink pearls was perfectly fitted the third finger of her left hand.

Big relieved. Cleared the third hurdle.

Now the only mission that he had left was taking the ring out of her finger…

"Hmm," Rachel's left hand flew up to her face and rubbed her eyes.

Finn froze, stopping himself from every move, even holding his breath, out of the corner of his eye, the rest of her rings on the coffee table.

Shit.

Rachel opened her eyes and studied the sight in front of her. Nevertheless, much to his relief, she didn't seem to find some ring on the third finger of her hand. "Hi, Finny," she finally figured what it was in front of her. Her smile, however, formed into a quizzical look. "Finn, why are you staring at me like that?"

"Um, uh–" all he could think about was her other rings on the coffee table. So, he spun around to grab them before she could see, oblivious to his knee down posture and the coffee table right behind his back.

"Awwwwwww!" Finn hit his lower back _hard_ on the corner of the coffee table, but managing to throw his hand onto the rings last second before falling behind on the tiny space between the coffee table and the sofa.

Now wide awake, Rachel flew up from the sofa and rubbed the back of her boyfriend, who was writhing from the pain in a fetal position. "Finn, are you okay?"

Heaving a breath out, Finn just nodded, clasping the rings in his one hand on his chest.

A few minutes later, he finally caught his breath. "I-I'm fine. I just," he panted, "was going to clean this up."

"You don't have to do that," Rachel gently caressed his cheek before standing on her feet. "I'll do that," she began putting the mess on the table away. "I'll bring you an ice pack."

Then she headed for the kitchen with the dishes and bottles of wine, wondering when she put this ring on the third finger of her left hand.

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><p><strong>FYI: <strong>_**Rachel Inter-course-vention**_** is in the chapter 9 of 'The Boy Next Door,' in case that you wouldn't know.**

**Please review :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: A Happy New Year to everyone! And thank you for reading my story and the responses!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Glee and its characters, and any resemblance to real persons or organizations is purely coincidental.**

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><p><strong>Sunday, November <strong>**22, 2015**

"Finn? Kurt?"

Rachel quietly shut the front door behind her as she called out. Other than some noises from the bathroom in the guest room, which used to be the deceased Mrs. Weston's master room, no responses came. Walking into the living room, she glanced at her bedroom door, which was tightly shut. She assumed that a painkiller had finally kicked in.

She left the bag stuffed Rusty's toys for exercise on the floor beside the sofa and bent down to unclip the leash from the collar of the Jack Russell Terrier. Determined to take care of four children, she made her way to the kitchen.

Having fed Rusty and Ms. Bonaparte first, Rachel decided to check up on the guy feeling sick from a hangover and eating too much whipped cream. A couple of water bottles under her armpit, a small box of Advil in a hand, she softly knocked on the door.

"Kurt? How are you feeling?" Rachel asked, wrenching the door open, peering into the room.

Kurt hollowly emerged out of the bathroom before shifting his gaze towards the door, his face much paler than usual. "The worst is over, I guess," he said flinging himself down on the bed. "I don't want to bring whipped cream into my sight with a ten foot pole for the time being," he murmured against the pillow.

Rachel nodded approaching the bed. "I'm going to leave these here," she placed the water bottles and Advil on the night table. "Anything else? Peppermint tea? Fruits? Vegan soup?"

"Peppermint tea would be great, thanks."

Soon after she carried a pot of peppermint tea and a bowl of fruits into the guest room, Rachel picked up the dog park kit from the floor and headed for her bedroom.

His face still distorted in agony, Finn laid himself on his side on the bed.

"Finn, are you alright?" Rachel quietly asked, putting the bag on top of the chest of drawers.

Finn lifted his head up slightly to see his girlfriend.

"Do you want me to take you to the hospital?"

"No! No need to go to the hospital!" Finn buried his face into the pillow.

Seeing her boyfriend being sensitized to the word 'hospital' like a kid, Rachel tried to suppress the urge to giggle, chewing the inside of her cheeks. She knew that he hated hospitals.

"Uh," Finn cleared his throat, tilted his head up again, trying to recover from the embarrassment of his childish demeanor, "I took Advil already, so I'll be fine," He smiled forcibly. The last place he wanted to go was a hospital. That was certainly _not_ because he had a scare of needles. Though his mother used to be a nurse when he was a kid. "How's Kurt?"

"He's getting better," Rachel informed, sitting on his side of the bed. "So, what would you like to have for breakfast? I mean, brunch? You missed the dinner last night. Must be starving to death," she threaded her fingers through his hair. She loved taking care of her boyfriend; he looked like a little kid in a 27 year-old 6'3" frame. So adorable.

As for Finn, he loved being taken care of by his girlfriend. Her gentle hand felt so good and almost made him want to return to sleep, which he didn't. Because, something caught his eyes. On her lap. On the third finger of her hand.

He widened his eyes with the realization of his girlfriend still wearing the flower ring on it.

Why, oh, why was the ring still there? Why didn't she remove it from there? He needed it. He needed it for purchasing an engagement ring the next day, or the day after the next day, on the way back home from the parent/teacher conference.

"Uh, Rachel?" trying his best to not get panicked, Finn started, "what's that?" he asked, gesturing to her left hand.

"This?" Rachel lifted her left hand up in front of her face. "It's not like a new–"

"I know," Finn interrupted, "but, uh, you usually put it on another finger, I guess?" he hoped she didn't noticed he shrilled a bit.

"I might have been very drunk last night, too," Rachel giggled, recalling how far Kurt had gotten drunken. "Most of the wine directly went into Kurt's stomach, though." Then she turned to face him. "Yeah, I've worn this on my right hand, but felt uncomfortable somehow. Maybe a bit small for it, I suppose," she held her left hand up before her face again. "I don't remember how this ended up on my left hand last night, but it really fits, so," she shrugged, looking down at her boyfriend, giving him his favorite bright smile.

"That's, uh, awesome," Finn responded with a tight smile, his mind otherwise focusing on how to get it back from her finger.

"Oh," Rachel abruptly stood up from the bed and approached the chest of drawers before rummaging into Rusty's dog park kit. "I've got this on the way back home," she said, turning around, holding up a small hexagonal package between the tips of her first two fingers; the package, decorated a green colored half circle pattern both on the top and bottom, illustrated a springing tiger in the middle.

"What're you gonna do with that?"

"It's a pain reliever, Finn. Tina recommended me that you should try it on your back pain," Rachel informed, approaching his side of the bed. Then she took a little jar, which was also hexagonal, out of the package, before unscrewing the lid.

Once Rachel opened the jar, the entire room got inundated with the strong menthol and clove smell.

"Whoa," Finn scrunched his nose, coughing a little.

"It smells strong, and you may not like it, but Tina said it would really work," Rachel giggled. "Lay down on your tummy, Finn. I'm going to rub this on your back."

Sporting a skeptical look on his face, yet Finn complied nonetheless.

Having pulled up his shirt, Rachel gave a chaste kiss on his bruise before rubbing a small amount of milky white balm on it.

Despite not only did he like the strong smell, but the menthol smell stung his eyes a bit, he couldn't help it; it felt so _so_ good—the mix of the warmth of her hand and the cool sensation of the ointment. He didn't bother to stop himself from slipping a series of moans from his mouth, his blood rushing to his lower region, oblivious to his stepbrother in the same apartment.

It was, however, short lived.

"There," Rachel pulled his shirt down, her non-covered with the balm, innocently squeezing his butt as she was about to get out of the bed.

Or, it wasn't?

Finn, taking it as a sign of her willing to make out, grabbed her mischief hand. He silently pleaded with his best puppy dog eyes as she looked down at him.

"Finn," Rachel sighed, "I need to wash my hand first. See?" she showed him her greasy palm. He reluctantly let go of her arm, so she leaned down to give a peck on his cheek, her arms outstretched backward to not touch anything. "As much as I'd love to join you here, you need to rest. And you have to eat."

Soon as Rachel let out the word 'eat,' Finn's stomach conveniently betrayed the other part of his body. It glowed loudly.

He groaned in disappointment with a shelved make-out session and his own big appetite, burying his face in the pillow, cursing himself.

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><p>Kurt was still in the bed. Finn could hardly move out of the bed, not from the back pain, but with food intake (he had made short work of the Vegan Lasagna leftover <em>and<em> five pancakes with eggs and crispy bacon).

Doing the dishes, finished. Doing the laundry, done. Cleaning up the living room _and_ the kitchen, perfectly spotless. Bathing Rusty and Mr. Bonaparte, successful. Rachel was getting bored.

She plumped herself down on the sofa. Rusty jumped in beside her, Ms. Bonaparte climbed on her lap. Idly stroking the cat's fluffy hair, she turned on the TV, thinking how to entertain herself; watch a DVD of some musical movie or channel-surf until finding a program she would take an interest in.

She finally decided to watch a DVD, scooping the cat up to move from her lap, as she heard a click sound and light footsteps from the guest room. She whirled around on the sofa. "Hey, Kurt. Do you want to watch a movie with me?"

"_Hello, Dolly!_?" Kurt requested, entering the living room and seated in the armchair. Ms. Bonaparte decided to rest on his lap.

"Sure," Rachel walked over to the rack and pulled the DVD out of it before turning around to see her friend still recovering from a hangover. "Are you hungry? Need something during the movie?" she asked.

"I would much appreciate having some crackers," Kurt replied.

"I'll get them with some fruit juice," Rachel announced as she placed the DVD on the coffee table before rising to her feet. "I'll be back in a minute."

About to return to the living room with a box of crackers, two bottles of carrot and apple juice, Rachel shot up her head as she heard a familiar name mentioned on the TV.

She rushed into the living room, aggressively throwing the bottles and the box onto the coffee table before intently fixing her eyes on the TV screen, standing beside the coffee table.

"What are–"

"SHHHHHHH!" Rachel held her hand up to Kurt, not bothering to turn her head to face him, her eyes still glued to the TV.

"Rach–"

"_SHHHHHHHHHHH!_"

Kurt gave a look at the side of her face, with a huff, folding his arms across his chest, failing to understand how so important the news of some young girl a reporter was referring to was.

A few minutes later, the camera switched back to the studio as Rachel slowly turned around to deal with her gay best friend. "I might know this girl."

"You mean, the girl who has just committed suicide? Who the reporter referred to?" Kurt asked, raising his eyebrow.

Rachel nodded as she perched herself on the sofa. "I just found a young married couple had moved to the next door the day before yesterday…" she started, enlightening as to how she had found the young married couple moving to the next door, the dinner with them, and how the young wife had asked me to share a Caramel Apple Brownies recipe the previous morning.

"Is she, or should I say, was she, really a close friend of Karl Lagerfeld's?" Kurt lightened up, clasping his hands in front of his chest, as he moved to the sofa, sitting beside the brunette.

"Kurt! That's not the point!" Rachel admonished. "The thing is, the girl who committed suicide might be the Sugar that I know, you know, the next door's Sugar McIntosh!"

"But did the reporter mention that her last name was Motta? As far as I remembered?" Kurt pointed out.

Rachel didn't know her neighbor Sugar's maiden name. Sugar had never told about it at the table. In fact, she had never mentioned the details of herself other than her interest in fashion, her fabulous clothes collection, and her fitness.

"How many girls named Sugar have you gotten acquainted?" Rachel asked in answer. "Sugar is certainly not a popular name."

Kurt folded one arm, his hand of the other on his chin. "Hmm, you have a point."

"See? And despite she practically forced me to be at her apartment at 1 pm yesterday, she wasn't there." Rachel grabbed her cell phone from the coffee table, showing the screen to Kurt. "Look, I did text her 3 times yesterday, 2 in the morning, but she never texted me back. That's not all, Kurt. I asked her husband to drop in at my place, but she didn't. If she still doesn't get back home right now, she could be the person the reporter referred to," she concluded.

"But," Kurt took a pause, "judging by the information that you gave me, she's a bubbly, chatty person, right?" he asked. "And you said, she was going to go for a jog," he straightened up on the sofa, pushing his bang aside delicately, clearing his throat, looking into Rachel's eyes. "_I don't think she could've committed suicide. Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people don't commit suicide. They just don't._"

"Did you just steal the lines from _Elle Woods_?" Rachel giggled.

"Yes, yes, I did," Kurt purred, crossing his legs, "thank you very much."

"You're probably right, but nobody knows she actually did go for a jog," Rachel scrolled the screen on the phone. "Anyway, I'm going to text her again," she announced, typing furiously.

"The reporter said that her father was a very wealthy man, uh, a company's owner of piano business, or something?" Kurt reminded.

"Yeah," Rachel lifted her head up to see her friend, "so?"

"Google her," Kurt suggested, "and you could find some pictures of her." He grabbed Rachel's iPad from the coffee table before googling Sugar Motta. "Here, there are some pictures of her," he showed the screen to Rachel, "all of them might be old to identify, though."

As Kurt pointed, the pictures of Sugar Motta were too old to identify her older self. "Hmm, but this little girl looks like Sugar the neighbor that I know, except for the hair color," Rachel murmured. The young wife next door had blonde, but the little girl on the pictures had light brown, though the hair color could be changed whenever she wanted.

"Why don't you just knock on her door?" Kurt suggested.

"You know what? You're right," Rachel nodded, "I'm going to find her whereabouts." She climbed out of the sofa before walking into the front door.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in the current master bedroom, Finn cheerfully sat up on the bed, thanks to his extraordinary digestive power and the smelly ointment. Now all he needed was, well, going to the John.<p>

He pulled the duvet off of his body, ignoring that fact that the strong menthol odor was harbored, before wandering to the bathroom.

He came to a halt, however, in front of the bathroom sink, before he could reach the toilet. He did a double take at a tiny object, which had been supposed to be belonged to his girlfriend's left hand, forgotten on the counter.

Finn grinned triumphantly.

"Yes!" Finn cried out, jumping at the place, twisting his upper body, holding his fist up high in the air, oblivious to his bruise on his back. "Fuck!" he cut his own throat. The pain returned. He squatted down.

It took a few minutes for him to compose himself. Cursing himself, he picked up the flower ring from the counter. Neglecting the thing he supposedly was going to do in the bathroom, he emerged out of the bathroom, making a beeline for the place where he usually put away his backpack for school.

When he grabbed his backpack, he stopped his hand.

Wait.

He needed something to wrap it.

He pulled some sheets of tissue and deliberately wrapped the ring with them. Still, he needed some hard, small box, to prevent the tissue paper from tearing or missing.

Finn tilted his head backward, blankly staring at the ceiling.

Oh, he had his glasses case in the backpack.

Teachers always told their kids to think outside the box. He was one of them. See? This was exactly how it was done!

Finn glanced at the door, making sure there was no sign of Rachel entering the room, before putting it in his glasses case. Then he let out a long, relieved sigh.

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><p>At the very moment Finn hugged his backpack on his chest with huge relief, Rachel stormed into the bedroom. He practically jumped a little at the place with her sudden appearance. He whirled around, clasping his backpack tighter to his chest, swallowing thickly, as his gaze followed her every move.<p>

Much to his relief, sporting a determined look on her face, she made a beeline for one of the windows, which she could partially peek into Mr. and Mrs. McIntosh's living room. She didn't seem to notice one bit of her boyfriend's strange behavior.

No, she was the one to behave strangely. Rachel was now alternating between slightly reclining on her right side and straightening up immediately, moving like a Roly poly toy doll, a deficient one, because she was tilting her upper body only to one side.

Seeing his girlfriend's weird demeanor (had she invented a new move for her exercise?), Finn burst out laughing. "Rachel, what're you doing?"

Rachel spun around, pouting, her arm folding across her chest. "This is important, Finn, don't bother me!" she scolded. Then she turned around to resume what she had been doing.

"Rachel, what's so important? Are you exercising?" Finn asked, placing his backpack in the original spot before approaching her.

"Finn! No! You're not supposed to stand right in front of the windows right now!" Rachel hissed, yanking his arm to get him to keep away from the window.

"What? Why?" Finn frowned, looking up at his girlfriend from his crouching posture.

"He could see us." Rachel murmured, still keeping peeping in through the curtains.

"He?"

"Biff McIntosh." Rachel sighed, sitting on the floor beside him. "I told you there were no baking classes yesterday? Sugar never texted me back?" she saw her boyfriend nodding. "I texted her three times today, but still no answers. So, I went to her apartment a little while ago, and guess what?"

"No idea." Finn shrugged.

"Nobody answered the door," Rachel breathed, "but look, Biff is in the living room!" she peered through the curtains again.

"So? They might have been in the middle of something, you know, newlyweds get in on like horny teenagers," Finn reasoned.

Rachel rolled her eyes, looking down at him. "Don't you see him? Does he look like 'after sex' to you? No sex hair and he's fully clothed!" she planted herself down next to him, leaning against the chest, letting out a sigh.

"You can have sex wearing your clothes," Finn said, reaching her waist, "speaking of dry humping–"

"Finn! Kurt's in the living room." Rachel shrugged his hand off of her before staring into the space in front of her. "Sugar is nowhere to be seen from here. Where is she?" she mumbled, not aware of her boyfriend's pout.

"In the shower? The bedroom?" Still pouting, Finn leaned against the chest, wondering why his girlfriend was so obsessed with the young wife.

"Why wasn't she at her apartment yesterday? Why didn't she text me back? Why didn't he answer the door?" Rachel continued mumbling before turning her head to face Finn. "What do you think?"

"I have no idea," Finn simply answered. "I'm going to take a shower, anyway," he pushed himself up from the floor. "Oh, and the smell of the stuff you rubbed on my back has gotten all over on the bed now," he informed.

"I'll be changing the sheets, then," Rachel responded, still sitting on the floor.

Crap. Changing the sheets meant no food sex on the bed.

"I want you to rub that balm on my back after a shower, so don't you think it'd better not be changed now?" Finn casually asked.

"If you say so," Rachel answered absent-mindedly.

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><p><strong>AN: I'm definitely not a PR, a spokesman nor any interested party related to the company which makes/sells the aforementioned product. I'm sure that the product has "love it or hate it" kind of smell (I kind of like the smell though, some people in my country usually say the smell's like of an old dude, or an old lady).**

**Please review :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and the responses!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Glee and its characters, and any resemblance to real persons or organizations is purely coincidental.**

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><p><strong>Monday, November <strong>**23, 2015**

Finn found his girlfriend desperately looking for something in the bathroom in the morning.

"Rachel?" Finn peered into the bathroom. "What're are you doing? Is there something wrong?"

Rachel stopped her hand from opening one of the cabinets, turning her head towards her boyfriend standing in the doorway. "Have you seen my ring? The flower one," she asked before resuming her quest for the ring. "It's supposed to be around here–" she mumbled bending down for the next cabinet.

Uh-uh.

Biff had finally answered the door on the evening of the previous day. He had said, however, that his wife had still gone out. The rest of the day, Rachel had been too preoccupied with Sugar's whereabouts to notice not wearing the flower ring on her any fingers.

"Uh, no?" rubbing the back of his neck, Finn answered. He tried to sound nonchalant. His eyes otherwise looked around restlessly for a moment.

Rachel pursued her lips, straightening herself up. "I should've put it on the counter when I washed my hands," she said as she looked at Finn again. "You know, right after I applied the ointment to your back."

"Have you tried in the kitchen?" Finn casually asked, walking into the bathroom before picking his toothbrush.

"High and low." Rachel answered firmly, staring at the 6'3" reflection in the mirror before folding her arms across her chest. Then her eyes shifted to the sink.

"It'll turn up later," Finn said, squeezing the toothpaste onto his toothbrush. "Even if it wouldn't, keep your hopes up. Or I'll get you a similar one as you had," he said shamelessly unlike his usual self (but her flower ring was very _very_ important for him, and for _her_ too).

"Yeah," Rachel murmured, still absorbed in some thoughts. A few moments later, she shot up her head, her eyes lightening up. "I got it," she turned to face him.

"W-what?" fidgeted, Finn stammered, his toothbrush almost falling off his mouth.

"I'll be trying to ask Biff to let me in to search for my ring," Rachel announced, clapping her hand in a chirpy manner.

"Huh?" Finn frowned before spitting out the toothpaste into the sink. "You didn't wear that ring at the dinner with them. I know you didn't because when you and Kurt were dead drunk, the ring was still–" he held his tongue.

Uh-uh.

Rachel, however, seemed to fail to notice what he was supposed to say. Far from that, she took it that her boyfriend had really paid his attention to the things that his girlfriend wore. It was obvious that her brain functions now worked in one direction and determination, because…

"Oh, Finn, that's so sweet," mistakenly Rachel cooed, her hands on her chest. "You must have been thinking about what bling you would get me for my birthday!" her hands shifted to his shoulder, pulling him down a little, she tiptoed to kiss his cheek.

"Uh, maybe," Finn heaved a sigh of relief. He resumed brushing his teeth, hoping that this could distract her from the next door too.

Of course, it didn't.

She was Rachel. Determination was her middle name.

"It's the great pretext of getting him to invite me in, isn't it?" Rachel backtracked. "I could figure something out, you know, where she is, what her maiden name is because I have a strong sense of the geography of their apartment," she grinned mischievously, doing a tiny dance.

"No, Rachel, you're not doing such a thing," Finn shook his head. "He wouldn't believe you. Even if he would, you're not supposed to snoop around in other people's apartment," he warned, unscrewing the cap of the mouthwash.

"It's not a lie that I lost my ring," Rachel said, turning to the mirror, looking at him in the mirror. "If it doesn't work, I'll be bringing a chocolate ricotta cake. Which, you should know, Sugar said her husband loved."

"Rach–"

"Don't you think something's fishy about him?" Rachel continued. "He doesn't seem to be worried about her frequent go out, you know, despite the fact that they're a newlywed. Don't you think Sugar could possibly never come home? She might be the one who committed suicide by hanging herself under the Third Avenue Bridge. I want to know what's going on with her, I need to know," she rattled.

"No, no, no, Rachel, you don't. Those are none of your business," Finn admonished, wiping his mouth with a towel. "Besides, I don't like you to be alone with him."

"Oh, I'll be fine," Rachel dismissed with a wave of her hand. "Kurt's willing to tag along with me, you know, he needs some distractions." With that, she walked out of the bathroom.

"Rachel!"

"Don't worry, Finny," ignoring her boyfriend's warning tone, Rachel beamed at him over her shoulder from the doorway. "I'll be baking one for you, too." With a wink, she skipped over to the guest room.

"Rach–"

Finn pinched the bridge of his nose, gazing up at the ceiling.

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><p>"Mrs. Penkala?" Finn called out along with a soft knock as he peered into the special education room. "Do you have a minute? I, uh," he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "kinda need your help."<p>

A special education director, Kate Penkala, lifted her head up from some documents before her. "Sure," she said, taking her glasses off of her face, gesturing for Finn to come in. "How can I help for you?"

"Uh, may I ask where your husband bought you the engagement ring?" Finn gestured to her diamond ring alongside the wedding band on her left hand. "'Cause, I have no idea which jewelry store to choose, you know, for me to pick the right one for my girlfriend."

Finn had been googling 'engagement ring,' 'tips for buying an engagement ring,' 'diamond jeweler,' 'jewelry shop,' or 'how to propose' for weeks. During the recesses. Not in his apartment. Of course.

However, the more he spent his time in reading the tips, how-to-articles, and store reviews, from _Tiffany_ to shop guide websites like _Yelp_, the more he got confused. He honestly didn't know what to believe, how to pull off.

"Oh, are you going to ask Rachel to marry you?" the brunette in the early 30's clapped her hands excitedly. Rachel had been to school concerts and Kate knew who his girlfriend was, what she did for her living, and what she was like. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks," Finn chewed the inside of his cheeks, trying not to blush as he perched himself on an empty chair across from her.

"Justyn got me this from _McKinley_," Kate informed, fondly staring at her left hand. "After a lot of research for weeks, we went to _Carmel_ at first," her gaze shifted to the music teacher. "But we ended in disappointment with the sales' attitude, you know, '_we-wait-only-on-high-class-customers_' kind of attitude. So we looked in at _Jane Adams_, but they had a narrower range of choices than we had expected. _Dalton_ was not all that bad, but we didn't find the right one. Then we finally found this at _McKinley_."

Finn nodded, trying to memorize the store names. "Wait," he took a pause, "you guys went buy the engagement ring together?"

"Yeah," Kate nodded, "why not?"

"I don't know," Finn shifted on the chair. "Because I like to adhere to tradition, I think?"

"Look who's talking," Kate giggled. "You two are living together before marriage," she pointed out.

"Right," Finn blushed.

Would he better bring Rachel with him to the Diamond district and get what she would want to wear the rest of her life? Then how was he supposed to propose to her? Without a ring? Did that seem like a faux pas? Did he look like a dumb?

"But I understand. Proposing without an engagement ring is not an option. Am I right? Besides, Rachel is a type of girl who deserves an epic proposal, you know, romantic and dramatic one." Kate reasoned, understandingly nodded to herself.

"Thank you for making things harder, Mrs. Penkala," Finn groaned.

"But it's the truth, right? That's why you look like distressed."

Finn sighed. "So, Justyn proposed to you without a ring?" he asked. "How?"

"That was under peculiar circumstances," Kate started. "Do you remember there was a suicide attack in the international arrival lobby at Domodedovo International Airport? Almost five years ago?"

"Uh, I suppose."

"Justyn got injured by the bombing, although he was very fortunate enough to escape with a minor injury," Kate said calmly. He husband was working at a trading company, and required to go to Russia on business more often than not since he spoke frequent Polish and Russian. "I was freaking out since I couldn't get through to him all day," she continued. "When he finally answered the phone, the first thing he said was 'Marry me.'"

Finn widened his eyes. "Wow."

"Yep," Kate nodded.

"That's a," Finn took a pause, "very touching story."

"The point is," Kate resumed helping him out, "all you need is telling how you feel about her. If it would be only two words like my hubby, I believe that it would be enough for her. Rachel is very much in love with you, Mr. Hudson. I know she is, because I've seen her eyes looking at you enough to know that," she got out of her chair before approaching him. "Don't think too much, you'll be fine however you propose to her. With or without a ring," she patted him on the shoulder. "Was my story of help?"

"Yeah, very," Finn said appreciatively. "But, uh, I would much appreciate if you'll keep me company going to some jewelry stores tomorrow after the conference," he asked. "You know, I'd like to hear a female opinion. And I'm still confused all 'engagement ring' language."

"Sure," Kate smiled before she made a face with some realization. "But you should suit up a bit more," she suggested, gesturing to his attire.

Finn looked down at his own clothes. He wore a jacket, but, no tie, no dress pants. "Oh," he didn't know there was a protocol as to how to dress himself when buying an engagement ring. He'd better google it later too. "Okay," he rubbed the back of his neck, standing up from the chair, before he walked over to the door with Mrs. Penkala.

"It's just me?" Kate stopped at the doorway, turning around to look around the empty room, "it smells IcyHot or something?" She scrunched her nose before mumbling. "When did my room get smelly like the boys' locker room…"

All Finn could do was averting his eyes from Mrs. Penkala.

* * *

><p>"Alright, Kurt," Rachel took a deep breath, "repeat again what you're supposed to do in his apartment," she said, a whole chocolate ricotta cake on the cake carrier firmly in her hands.<p>

"Stall him while you're in the bathroom," Kurt recited excitedly. He had gotten easily on board her _Operation Finding Sugar_. He would take anything to distract him from his heartbroken state. Besides, if he could find Sugar, he would befriend Karl Lagerfeld too, right?

"Do you know how you're going to stall him?" Rachel demanded.

"Of course, I do," Kurt huffed, feeling offended. "My father, isn't it?"

Rachel hadn't missed that Biff had arched his eyebrow, a hint of a great deal of interest reached his eyes, when she had slipped Finn's stepbrother's last name over the dinner with the young married couple. He had even asked her back, saying '_Hummel? As in a Congressman Burt Hummel?_'

Rachel nodded to Kurt in a satisfactory manner as she handed the cake carrier out to him. "Okay then, let's get started!" she announced, wrenching her door open.

Kurt quivered with excitement, stepping onto the hallway.

Having locked her apartment, Rachel tucked a pile of her hair behind her ear as she stopped in front of Mr. McIntosh's door. Then she softly knocked on his door.

No answer. The first try was always like this somehow.

Rachel and Kurt exchanged looks before she tried once more along with five firm knocks.

A moment later, casually dressed Biff answered the door. He sported a petulant look on his face (as always) as he found Rachel standing. He, however, slightly changed his expression when he heard her introducing the guy beside her with punctuation '_This is Kurt _Hummel_._' That caught him off guard.

Rachel grinned triumphantly. Taking advantage of it, she let herself inside without permission. "I brought you my chocolate ricotta cake. Why don't we talk over a cup of tea with the cake? Is Sugar here?" she cheerfully said. Kurt followed her.

"Uh, um, sure," Biff frowned, but complied nonetheless. "She isn't, she's running errands," he responded, shutting the door behind him before following the two.

"I'll make tea. Or coffee? What would you like to have?" Rachel asked as she walked into the kitchen, taking the cake carrier from Kurt.

"Uh, coffee would be great," Biff murmured, seeming a bit annoyed with Rachel.

"Why don't you get to know each other in the living room? Kurt? While I'm making coffee?" Rachel suggested, shooting a sweet but meaningful look at Kurt. Out of the corner of her eye, she witnessed Biff's expression slightly changing (again).

"That sounds fun!" Kurt clapped his hands before turning to face Biff. "Shall we?" beaming, he encouraged Biff to step away from the kitchen.

Nodding expressionlessly, Biff followed Kurt into the living room.

"So," Kurt started as he perched himself on the sofa, "I don't think Rachel's mentioned what you do, Mr. McIntosh?"

"Uh, I'm an individual investor," Biff answered, carefully sitting in the armchair across from Kurt.

In the kitchen, with her all ears pricked, Rachel looked into a cabinet after cabinet for coffee grounds or beans or soluble coffee or anything for them to drink. To her surprise, there were little in all the upper cabinets, though she found the thing she needed at hand at least.

So, after a glance in the direction where Biff was sitting, to make sure that he was not watching her, she tried the lower ones. She scrunched her nose as she saw a lot of paper containers with food scraps piled up in the trash can on the corner of the kitchen.

Rachel shook her head before continuing her mission. She, however, didn't find anything in there either.

Except for one thing.

There were a pair of worn out rubber gloves ominously lying in the back of one of the lower cabinets.

Rachel shuddered, seeing the creepy gloves. She shook her head as if it could shake her eerie feel off, before resuming preparing three cups of coffee.

Over the course of the conversation with the cake and coffee, Rachel and Kurt hadn't improved their interrogation about Biff and his wife. He was very good at making their conversation nudge out of himself and Sugar. On the contrary, he was the one to take command of the conversation; he interrogated Kurt about him and his father. Briefly but skillfully.

So, Rachel chose the moment when Kurt started giving Biff the details about his family, to explore the bathroom and their bedroom. "May I use your bathroom?" she got out of the sofa.

"Sure," Biff bluntly said.

Rachel gave a look at Kurt along with a squeeze of his shoulder before she wandered into the bathroom.

Once she quietly closed the door behind her, she glanced over the bathroom. She slowly approached the counter, and began to rummage into every one of the cabinets.

Hmm. Two toothbrushes, but no tampons, no female deodorants, no any other girly stuff. Was Sugar really living here? Was there a big fight for her to leave the house? Then she got depressed and ended up committing suicide? Well, if the Sugar on the news were the one Rachel knew.

Rachel tiptoed towards the other door. Yes, she knew that she could access the bathroom both from the entryway and the bedroom. She tried handle to the bedroom.

It was locked.

She put her hand into the pocket on her skirt with an impish grin. She had expected this. The door between the bathroom and the bedroom could be locked and unlocked from the both sides. She took two bobby pins out of it. Ooooh, she was _soooo_ excited! It made her feel like playing a role in a detective TV drama!

What she hadn't expected was, however, unlike the TV dramas, it was not easy for her to unlock the door with those bobby pins.

Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!

Rachel stomped her feet in frustration.

At the very moment, her cell phone blared wildly.

Startled, Rachel practically jumped up at the place. Her heart erratically pounded as the ringtone kept singing loudly (damn, she forgot how great and aloud the bathroom made sounds sound). She tried to mute the ringtone in a rush, pulling the phone out of her pocket. But too in hot haste, she failed to grasp her phone securely as she took it out.

Rachel juggled the phone before it completely slipped out of her hand. She attempted to catch it before it could meet the floor made of ceramic.

So she dived.

And she failed.

To catch her phone before it hit the floor.

And she too hit her ribs on the corner of the toilet.

"Awwwwwwwwwww!"

Rachel heaved a breath out, lying on the floor. Her eyes began watering, but darted at her broken phone.

"Rachel? What was that noise? Are you okay?" Kurt banged on the door from the entryway.

A few moments later, Biff unlocked the door from the bedroom before opening the other door for Kurt to come in.

Rachel could partially see the bedroom from the bathroom floor. But that was all. She couldn't move without any help of others.

_Operation Finding Sugar_ phase one officially came to naught.

* * *

><p>"You know you deserved it," Finn admonished in a soft tone as he pulled her shirt up from behind her. "You're not supposed to sneak into other people's place."<p>

"I know," Rachel mumbled, lying on her left side on the bed. After the bathroom incident, Rachel was taken to a hospital for X-rays. Luckily, her ribs weren't broken, just inflamed, though dull ache still bothering her. "But don't you think it's weird that there are little in the kitchen cabinets? In the bathroom, no tampons, no–"

"Rachel!"

Rachel pouted, eyeing her boyfriend, who was preparing for a small amount of the same ointment as she had applied to for him. "Ooooh," she moaned as she closed her eyes, feeling the cool sensation on her right ribs and her boyfriend's calloused hand.

Finn arched his eyebrow. "Now you can see it my way?"

"Hmm-hmm," Rachel managed to respond, "despite the smell, yes, but," she opened her eyes and glanced at Finn, "I can hardly move."

"Babe, you don't need to move, just scream," Finn gently got Rachel on her back.

"But I don't want to be boring," Rachel whined.

"You won't be boring. Ever," Finn leaned down to press his lips on hers. "Your lying down there is still hot," he whispered against her lips before deepening the kiss.

"Finn, Finny," Rachel panted as his mouth shifted to her neck.

"Hmm?" he replied against her neck before his mouth ran up to her ear, nibbling her earlobe. His greasy hand stole up to her breast.

"K, Kurt could hear us," Rachel managed to say between moans as his fingers hovered over her nipple.

"I already took care of it," Finn whispered in her ear. "I got him a pair of ear plugs, 'cause I don't know how long he will stay here," he continued the ministration with his tongue from her ear to her jaw line, his hand gently massaging her breast.

"Finn," Rachel almost lost her power to resist him. The strong menthol smell narrowly kept her from losing herself. "But you have to wash your hand first."

"Who cares?" It was not like he got used to the smell. But now? He has more important things at hand.

Much to his disappointment, Rachel had a different idea. She stopped him again.

"I do, Finn, because I don't want you to use that hand, you know, on my lady parts," Rachel said seriously. "And you might care too, since you can't use your mouth on the parts covered with the balm."

"Fine," Finn reluctantly climbed off of her and walked into the bathroom.

Having finished washing his hands, he hastily returned to the bed. "Satisfied?" he asked with an arched eyebrow, climbing on top of her. Then he took all the fabrics Rachel wore and his off before resuming what he had been doing.

Carefully avoiding the parts covered with the balm (crap, he shouldn't have massaged her boobs with his greasy hand, he couldn't use his mouth on them), he got his tongue traveled down to the south. Then he spread her legs, kissing her inner thigh before sucking her sensitive nub, his fingers opening her wet slit.

"Oooohhh, Finny," Rachel closed her eyes, throwing her head back onto the pillow, her fingers automatically threading through his hair.

Having given her enough ministration on her pussy with his mouth and fingers, Finn sat up and positioned himself between her legs. He rubbed her slit up and down with the tip of his rock hard-on for a moment before burying himself inside her.

Rachel let out a moan along with Finn's groan. She tried to relax her upper body (especially her right ribs) to avoid her dull pain. As for Finn, he also tried to avoid her right side and her boobs covered with the ointment while rhythmically pounding himself into her.

Rachel wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled him close to her face. She ran her tongue along his lower lip before nibbling it. "Faster, baby," she whimpered against his mouth as she shifted her hands to his back, stroking up and down with her fingers.

Shuddering, Finn couldn't help. He cradled her head with one hand to kiss her deeply before pushing himself up and pumping himself into her furiously.

"Oooohhh, so good, Finny, so _so_ good," closing her eyes, Rachel moaned, her swollen lips slightly parted. Her cheeks and her neck gradually turned to be tinged with rosy pink.

"Shit," Finn growled, seeing how hot his girlfriend looked, hearing how sexy she sounded, and feeling so good inside her. He gently lifted her left leg, letting it onto his shoulder, his left leg striding over her right one. Then he penetrated her as hard as he could.

"Oh God," Rachel cried out, the pain running through her ribs as she tightened her stomach muscles. Yet, him feeling so good inside her overcame the pain after all.

Finn slid his hand between them as he felt her clenching around himself. The other hand grabbed her breast, oblivious to the strong smelly stuff (he was on the verge of his own orgasm).

"Oh, oh, no, God," Rachel gasped as she writhed under her orgasm, which caused the pain shooting through her body too. "_Oh, GOOOOOOOOOOOOOODDD!_"

Rachel's scream triggered Finn's orgasm. "Oh, fuck!" he thrust a few more times until finishing his load inside her. Then he buried his face in her neck, not aware of her mixed expression, before he moved his lips down to her chest…

"UUGGGGGGGHHHHHHHP%$TGRFD$#FGHJK%L+LKY$&%H%RGWZDXFUUUUUUCCCCKKKK!"

Finn jumped out of the bed and rushed into the bathroom, leaving his girlfriend with watering eyes in the bed.

Rachel managed to sit up on the bed, heaving a breath out, clutching the comforter into her chest. "Finny, are you alright?" she called out.

A few minutes later, Finn emerged out of the bathroom, breathing heavily. "I'm fine. Are you?" he asked as he saw her grimace with pain, her eyes watering.

"I'll be fine," Rachel said in a low voice. "But we should rest for the time being."

"Agreed," Finn approached the bed, picking her shirt and undergarment up from the floor, before helping her put them on and his own too. "I'm an idiot," he mumbled as he slid himself under the duvet.

"No, you're not," Rachel responded. "But a goofball. An adorable one, a sexy one," she giggled. "And I'm an idiot too if you were one."

Finn smiled at her and pressed his lips to her temple. "I love you, Rachel."

"I love you, too," Rachel replied as she lay down on her back. "Good night, Finny."

"Night, Rach."

Finn turned the light off, thinking as to how in sync they were. Even about injuries. Despite their personalities were completely opposite. He chuckled at himself. He couldn't wait for the day he would propose to her.

* * *

><p><strong>Please review :)<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and the responses!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Glee and its characters, and any resemblance to real persons or organizations is purely coincidental.**

* * *

><p><strong>Tuesday, November <strong>**24, 2015**

"Rusty, come on!" Rachel cried as she attempted to tug the leash to get him closer to her.

Since the strong menthol smell pervaded the bedroom and Finn's body, the Jack Russell Terrier had been resenting being around his male co-owner and the bedroom. Which, whether for good (to Finn) or for bad (to Rachel), led Kurt to start considering lodging at another place—Rusty chose the guest room as his kennel.

Now the dog was unwilling to be close to her too. She tried in vain to double-soap herself thoroughly. Though, unlike Rusty, Ms. Bonaparte seemed to like the smell somehow and seemed to decide that the bedroom was her forever residence.

Rachel sighed. She glanced at the well-dressed guy with desperate eyes.

"Okay, fine," Kurt took the leash from the tiny brunette. "But if he would pee on my boots," he gestured to his own middle length lace-up gray leather boots, "you'd owe me new ones. They're Alexander McQueen's for the new season."

"He won't. He's well-disciplined," Rachel huffed, her arms crossing in front of chest.

"Yeah, yeah, he didn't even blink an eye when you two screamed loudly last night," Kurt snorted, stepping aside as Rusty attempted to lick his boots.

"That was not what you think, we just–" Rachel tried to refute, her face turning red otherwise. Although they screamed for the wrong reason, she bit her tongue.

"Sure, sure," Kurt rolled his eyes. "I bet that the dog must have a huge fan of watching Maria Sharapova playing," he said sarcastically.

"Are you sure," Rachel cleared her throat, trying to change the subject, giving her best smile to the doorman who was holding the glass door for the two and the small creature, "that Carole said that I don't need to bring anything to tomorrow's Thanksgiving dinner–"

"Oh, hey, Finn," Kurt interrupted as he saw his stepbrother emerging out of the elevator. "Are you taking off for the conference now? It's still 9 am," he glanced at the time on his wrist, with the other hand tugging tightly the leash of the dog turning back outside in an attempt to stay away from his owners. "Rusty, don't!"

Finn, a bit hurt seeing his dog's attempt to run away from him (again), rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, yeah, I have a lot to do before the conference," he lied. He just needed alone time for the last time for research on his school computer.

"You too obsessed with the school shit, Finessa." Puck called out as he stepped out of the other elevator. "You ducked out halfway through our biweekly bowling the other day by the same token," he approached the three and the dog. "Sup, Berry, Hummel," he nodded as a greeting.

Rachel frowned. "What're you talking about?" she shifter her gaze to her boyfriend. "What's he talking about, Finn?" her eyes returned to the Mohawk. "Or rather, what are you doing here anyway?" she demanded, her arm folding across her chest.

"Um, I had to run to grab some papers that I had left at school," Finn managed to gloss over.

"You dressed yourself will today, Finn. I'm impressed," chimed in Kurt, who was studying his stepbrother's attire—light gray slim fit suit in tweed, a dark charcoal sweater on a white shirt, and a midnight blue tie—up and down. "I mean, I'm impressed with myself. You know, my efforts finally paid off," he nodded approvingly. "Though I have no idea why you need to dress like that for the conference."

"I love him in that suit," Rachel stared at her boyfriend adoringly.

Puck rolled his eyes. He turned his head around as he heard a sound 'ding' from the elevator. "We came here," he gestured to the other police officers before turning to face the Hudson-Berry-Hummel trio, "for a reason," he gestured for the officers to go back to the station ahead with his two fingers.

Rachel's eyes lit up with some realization. She exchanged looks with Kurt before turning to face Puck. "You guys came here for Sugar Motta? Sugar McIntosh? I know you did! Third Avenue Bridge is under the jurisdiction of your station, isn't it? Oh, I should've been aware of it sooner! So? Sugar Motta and Mrs. McIntosh are one and the same? Tell me, tell me about everything, Noah!" she clapped her hands cheerily as she stepped forward to the police officer.

"Rachel!" Finn admonished, yanking her arm gently to keep a distance from Puck.

Rachel's face fell. "I'm sorry. It would be imprudent for me after such a tragedy."

Finn shook his head, sighing. "I gotta go. Rachel, I may be a bit late home today. Is there anything you want me to pick up for tomorrow?" he looked down at his girlfriend.

"Hmm," Rachel tilted her head to one side, "I don't think so. I'll be going to Apple Store later, so I'd take care of it myself if there would be," she responded. "What time do you think you'll be home?"

"Uh, I don't know. It depends, you know, we have some Tiger Mothers," Finn tried to sound convincing.

"Oh, okay. Then call me when you're off from the school. I should be getting a new phone by then." Rachel placed her hand on his arm with a smile.

"Of course," Finn leaned down to kiss her quickly. "Have a good day, babe," he glanced at his stepbrother and his best friend. "Bye, guys," with that, he rushed into the street.

"The fuck wrong with him? He's sneaky lately," Puck murmured, seeing off his best friend with narrowed eyes, before turning to face Rachel. "Maybe he finally leaned one or two from me," he smirked evilly.

Rachel threw a sharp glare at the Mohawk. "Look who's talking, Noah. Is that why Quinn decided to wash her hands of you, isn't it?" she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"You'd better stop stirring the lovebirds up, Puck," Kurt assisted. "How is she anyway? How are Beth and Eli? Are they coming to the Hudson-Hummel Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow?"

Puck awkwardly rubbed his Mohawk, his eyes casting down. Not that he was going to reveal the fact that he could do nothing but beg her to come back to him with eating hundreds humble pies. "They're fine. And, well, yeah, I think so," he murmured, thrusting his hands into his pockets.

Kurt arched his eyebrow. "You think, or you hope?"

"Yeah, they'll be coming," Puck confirmed.

"Good," Kurt placed his hand on the Mohawk shoulder. "Then see you guys tomorrow. Now you'll excuse us," he turned to Rachel. "Come, Rachel, Rusty." He yanked her arm and gripped the leash to get them into the elevator.

"But I'm not finished," Rachel tried to shake his hand off of her. "Noah, why are you here?" she shouted over her shoulder. "I _need_ to know why you're here!"

Rachel's voice echoed in the apartment lobby before the elevator door could block her view. Puck gave her his final smirk and got out of the building.

* * *

><p>"Mr. Hudson?" Kate called as she approached him in the gymnasium, where was arranged the desk and chairs in four rows for the parent-teacher conference.<p>

"Hey, Mrs. Penkala," Finn greeted as he put away his conference papers into his backpack. "You ready?"

"About that," Kate hesitated, "um, I'm sorry I don't think I can make it."

"Oh," Finn tried to not show his disappointment.

"I've got a call from my hubby," Kate started, "and his grandfather is in a critical condition. So, we have to fly to Krakau as soon as possible. I really am sorry," she placed her hand on his shoulder.

Finn nodded understandingly. "Please don't be, Mrs. Penkala. Family comes first, family matters," he firmly said. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Thank you, Mr. Hudson," Kate smiled appreciatively. "If you'd like someone to keep you company, I could talk to Ms. Owen? She's the same age as Rachel, and I've seen her reading bridal magazines more often than not. I bet it would be helpful of her to you."

"I don't know," Finn rubbed his forehead, thinking the pros and cons of hiring their school nurse as his consultant for an engagement ring purchase. Penny Owen had just got a job at school three months before and he hadn't had a chance to get to know her well yet.

"I'm going to talk to her," Kate decided, seeing the music teacher falling between two stools, before heading for the nurse's office without waiting for Finn's answer.

A few minutes later, Kate came back to the gymnasium. Finn shot his head up from his cell phone to see the special education director who'd just called his name. His gaze shifted from Mrs. Penkala to Ms. Owen standing behind her. Everybody knew that she had just freshened up—her lip gloss was too glistering.

"Hi, Mr. Hudson," Penny gave him a small wave from behind Kate. "I've heard your situation from Mrs. Penkala. I'd be happy if I could be of help."

Finn rubbed the back of his neck. Having googled in the morning didn't help that much than he had expected. He still had a very hard time interpreting the engagement ring language into English. So, why not?

"I hope this doesn't cause any inconvenience to you," Finn got out of his chair, giving Ms. Owen a nervous smile.

"Oh, I'm sure it doesn't," Penny stepped forward, her hands wringing in front of her chest. "I love shopping, so it'll be fun!" she chirpily announced, clapping her hands.

"Alright, guys, I gotta go," Kate chimed in. "I hope you'll find one that you've pictured," she started walking away from them, waving her hand.

"Thank you, Mrs. Penkala," Finn said, seeing the special education director exiting from the gymnasium. "Have a smooth flight."

* * *

><p>Finn was really starting to regret accepting the offer that Ms. Owen had given. She practically dragged him into <em>Tiffany<em> on Fifth Avenue. Sure, she knew the engagement ring language so well. And he would be lying if he said that he wouldn't be visiting _Tiffany_ other than _McKinley_ and _Dalton_.

But honestly, Ms. Owen was… too much.

Okay, his girlfriend _occasionally_ could be intense, controlling, bossy, overdramatic (and _once in a blue moon_, you could see her much younger self—self-centered—in adult Rachel). He admitted. Even Rachel herself admitted. But his soon-to-be-fiancée always understood and carefully listened to what _he_ wanted (well, except for her recent obsessiveness with their new neighbor).

Ms. Owen didn't.

Unlike Mrs. Penkala, Ms. Owen didn't know Rachel at all. So, you would think that she would listen to what he wanted to get his girlfriend was like?

Wrong.

Ms. Owen replied to everything by telling him with a beginning '_I_ would.'

The sales on the second floor were grilling the odd couple—whenever she got a chance, Ms. Owen linked her arms around his, pressing her massive boobs to it, which let him _happen_ to see her cleavage (she wore a low cut sweater). He immediately averted his eyes away from it and tried to shake her arms off of him. He swore.

He was exhausted.

"Uh, Ms. Owen?"

"Finn, you can call me Penny, or Penelope if you like," Penny sweetly smiled up at him.

Finn nervously smiled back at her. "Uh," he cleared his throat, "I want to use the bathroom, so could you wait here for a moment?"

"Sure," Penny nodded before turning to see the glass showcase.

Once Finn closed the bathroom door, he pulled out his cell phone from the inner pocket of his jacket. He needed a pinch hitter, or someone who could bail him out. But who?

Finn scrolled the screen of the phone and stared at it for a moment before making up his mind to choose one from his address book.

"_Hello, Finn. I'm glad you called. I've been trying to reach–"_

"Are you free today?" Finn cut to the chase. "I'm at Tiffany and I'm freaking out."

"_Why are you… oh, you'll be buying an engagement ring, won't you? For Rachel?"_

"Dude, keep your voice down," Finn whisper-shouted, having restless eyes, though nobody other than himself in the bathroom. "You don't ever tell anyone about this, okay?" he said in a low, threatening tone.

"_Okay, okay. So, what can I do for you?"_

Finn briefed him on what had been going on so far. "The day's a-wasting, you know? I need to get out of here, without her. How soon can you come?" he desperately asked.

"_Uh, I think I'll get there in thirty minutes."_

"And I have a word with you," Finn changed his tones. "You know what I mean?"

"_I know."_

Finn heard a dreary sigh on the other end of the line. "Okay then, I have to go. The staff will think I'm pooping," with that, he hung up the phone.

Finn looked at himself in the mirror and did some Karate chops for pumping it up, determined to find the right one for Rachel by the end of the day and get Ms. Owen to leave. And he took a deep breath before emerging out of the bathroom.

* * *

><p>On account of some misunderstanding between Rachel and one of the staff at the Apple Store on the Prince Street, she and Kurt was forced to travel all the way up to the one on the Fifth Avenue.<p>

Fortunately, the store on the Fifth Avenue, unlike the one on the Prince Street, had much nicer sales to Rachel's liking. Her new iPhone was successfully transferred the SIM card and data from her broken one by the nicest staff. Satisfied, Rachel vigorously walked down the street with a big smile.

"How about we are going to look in at _Prada_?" Kurt suggested. "There are some items that I've had my eye on," he said as he let her loop her arm with his.

"Sounds good," Rachel agreed. "Do they have ties there? Maybe I'll be buying one for Finn," she contemplated. She knew that Finn wasn't a fan of tying a tie. But she loved seeing him in a suit and tie. Who didn't like men in uniform? When she had seen him in a suit and a tie this morning, she really fought back the urge to jump into him. He looked sexier than ever! She almost forgot her _Operation Finding Sugar_. Almost.

"Earth to Rachel!"

"Huh?" Rachel snapped out of her daydream as Kurt cried out.

"We're here," Kurt announced as he stopped at the entrance of _Prada_ on the Fifth Avenue. "I know what you were thinking about, Rachel," Kurt nudged her not-inflamed ribs gently. "You were thinking about Finn, weren't you? You drooled when you saw him in that suit this morning."

"I did not!" Rachel gasped as they were greeted by the doorman, who slightly narrowed his eyes at her. "But yes," her voice deflated, "I was thinking about him," she murmured.

Having decided to look around separately and meet up at the entrance in thirty minute, Kurt marched into the bag floor with a sales assistant and Rachel wandered into the men's floor.

For Kurt, however, it seemed to take more than thirty minutes to give his final answer to the sales assistant. So, Rachel informed him that she would go on ahead to a café on the West 57th Street and exited from the store with the dark green/blue glen plaid wool tie for her boyfriend.

The second she stepped outside, she inhaled and exhaled deeply (the store was so crowded!). Then she was about to turn right to go down to the W 57th St., her eyes caught something familiar. No, someone familiar. With a woman whom she had never seen. Right in front of _Tiffany_.

Rachel widened her eyes.

She never failed to discern her man from the other tall guys. Even among the crowd. Even his back view like now.

The woman, a long light brown hair in a red coat like her own, cheerfully hugged him, even kissed his cheek, and fondly wiped her lip gloss from it with her thumb. After he had seemed to hand something small and blue (she assumed that it was _Tiffany_'s shopping bag) out to the woman, she walked up away from him waving her hand with a big smile.

Rachel spun around as she felt him turning in the direction where she was standing. So she walked down the street at a trot. Once whipping round the corner, she ran towards the café she had told Kurt that she would wait for him at, ignoring the dull ache around her right ribs, and a tight knot in her chest.

_Was that why he had worn a suit today? For her? What did Noah say? Was she the reason why he cut his biweekly bowling short?_

_No no no, Rachel, you shouldn't jump to conclusions_._ He was not that kind of guy. Remember our promise?_ She told herself repeatedly. After Brody's incident (and the small one with Jesse), Finn and Rachel had promised that they would never judge prematurely without hearing the other out.

She breathed deeply and took a seat at a table by the window, gripping her paper cup tightly.

When she almost finished her tea, her cell phone buzzed.

**Got stuck in one of Tiger Moms. A few more hours to be home. Call you later. Love you. – Finn**

Rachel shut her eyes tightly, trying her best to think that he could have a reason to lie to her. She even tried to use Ujjayi breath, which her yoga instructor had taught, to release tension.

When she finally opened her eyes, she saw _her_.

Not the woman with Finn.

Sugar McIntosh.

In a cab.

That happened in a flash, but it was as if she saw some scene in a movie projected in slow motion—she took her sunglasses off of her face, and threw a glance in the direction where Rachel was sitting, peering through the cab window.

Rachel hurriedly got out of the café, though the cab had already turned the corner of the Sixth Avenue.

* * *

><p>Like Mr. and Mrs. Penkala, Finn finally found the one at <em>McKinley<em>. It took a lot longer than he had ever imagined. But this was once in a life time thing. He didn't compromise. Pushing the thought of her simple reply _'Okay. Love you too'_ into the back of his head, he focused on the task at hand.

And he found the one; set in a platinum, thin bead-set diamond band accentuated a 3.06 carat oval brilliant cut stone striking its presentation, no side stones. It was exquisite, unique and different from the others, just like Rachel herself. He could easily imagine how sparkling it would be on the third finger of her left hand, like a star in the midnight, like a sun in the sunny day, like her smile.

Finn took the shopping bag from a sales assistant before letting out a big relieved sigh. Now all he had left was thinking how to propose to Rachel.

Blaine patted him on the back gently. "I could easily picture how her face would lighten up when you give it to her. It's really Rachel. Congrats, man," he smiled.

"Thanks," Finn sheepishly smiled back at him. "Oh man, I'm starving," he rubbed his stomach. "Wanna grab a bite? We need to talk," he gestured to a coffeehouse nearby _McKinley_.

Blaine's smile disappeared. "Yeah," he just nodded.

Soon as they sat across from each other at a table, Finn started. "Why'd you do that to him?" he asked in a harsh tone, looking at Blaine over his coffee cup.

"I-I," Blaine's eyes cast down, "don't know. I just, I felt really alone and, and, I, I know there's no excuse," he breathed. "I've been trying to reach for him, but he hasn't answered the phone. He won't talk to me," he idly traced the rim of his coffee cup.

Finn rubbed his face tiredly. "Did you love him?"

Blaine shot his head up to stare at the taller guy for a moment. "I did! I _do_! I do love him!" he raised his voice. But soon his eyes returned back to the table.

Finn let out a sigh. "To be honest, I'm mad at you too, you know. If I was in his shoes, I would be lying if I said I could forgive you right away," he sipped his coffee and took a pause. "But I've learned a lot from my past. If you wouldn't forgive someone for something, you couldn't let it go, move on from it, in a true sense," he said, recalling his worst memories in high school and his mother's words. "So, I hope Kurt would forgive you at some point. Not that I mean you two could get back together when he would," he added. "I'm his brother, so his happiness comes first."

Now Finn could see the short man contorting his face with tears and guilt.

"He needs time," Finn continued. "He'll talk to you when he wants to," he saw Blaine nodding, still his eyes glued to the table, "either way, he has to go to your apartment, you know, all his belongings are there."

A silence enveloped them for a moment. Then Blaine finally lifted his face up to look at his boyfriend's stepbother. "I really appreciate you talking to me," he got out of his chair, "I hope we stay friends, and Kurt will forgive me, whether or not it means we're over." He held his hand out to Finn and shook it appreciatively.

"Happy Thanksgiving," Finn called out to the back of Blaine.

"Thanks, you too," Blaine sadly smiled at him over his shoulder and left the coffeehouse.

* * *

><p>When Finn got home, it was almost 7 pm. He texted Rachel with an apology before he headed for the apartment, but she just texted back simply <em>'Okay. Love you too,'<em> again.

"Hey, where's Rachel?" Finn asked as he walked into the living room, where he found Kurt watching TV with Rusty and Ms. Bonaparte in the living room.

"She's taking a nap," Kurt responded, not bothering to look at his stepbrother. "Your dinner is in the oven."

"Uh, okay," Finn peered inside the bedroom, to find his girlfriend sleeping with a soft breath. So he made his way to the kitchen and pulled the dish from the oven. Once he grabbed a bottle of beer, a fork and paper napkin, he returned to the living room, plumping himself down on the sofa beside Kurt. "Everything going okay?" he asked, already beginning to stuff his potato fries into his mouth.

"I don't know," Kurt shifted his gaze from the TV screen to his brother. "Rachel acted strange after shopping at _Prada_," he informed.

Finn frowned. "How?"

"She barely spoke," he said as he took the rectangle gift box wrapped a ribbon printed _Prada_ logo font from the coffee table. "This is from Rachel," he handed it out to Finn.

"What's the occasion?" Finn tilted his head to one side as he wiped mouth with a napkin before taking the box from Kurt.

"Nothing special, just a gift from your girlfriend, like you buying her a bouquet on a regular basis," Kurt shrugged, his eyes returning to the TV. "She loves you in that suit and tie. That made her think it would be a good idea to get you another tie. That's it."

Finn nodded, unwrapping the box. "So, she didn't act strange when she got this?" he asked. A smile crept to his lips when he found a plaid tie in the box.

"I don't know. We were shopping in the store separately," Kurt leaned forward to take his glass of wine from the table. "When we met up at the café, she already got absent-minded," he sipped his wine before facing his brother. "You should talk to her."

After two bottles of beer, the dinner and the chat with his stepbrother, Finn slowly wrenched the bedroom door open. He approached her side of the bed and sat on the edge of it. He gently combed her hair with his fingers, wondering what made her upset today.

Having felt the additional weight on the bed and something in her hair, Rachel's eyes fluttered open. "Hi, Finny," she gave him a tight smile.

"Hi, babe," he said with a lopsided smile and leaned down to kiss her cheek. "Thank you for the tie, I love it," he still stroked her hair.

"Even you don't like tying a tie?" Rachel let out a small laugh.

"Not liking to tie a tie is because of my clumsiness, you know that," Finn amended. "I have someone to take care of it instead of me," he touched her nose with his forefinger playfully. Rachel, however, bit her lower lip for some reason which he didn't know. "Is there something wrong? What's upsetting you?" he looked into her eyes worryingly.

Rachel didn't answer for a moment. So, Finn patiently waited for her to speak up.

"I saw you," Rachel finally opened her mouth, "with someone else today," she bit her bottom lip again, trying her best not to fall tears from her eyes. Her long time forgotten insecurities were on the verge of exploding at any minute. "Are you seeing someone else?" her voice was so faint, almost inaudible. "Are you breaking up with me?"

"W-what? No!" Finn cried out, springing to his feet, looking down at her in horror. Breaking up with her? That was totally completely one-hundred-eighty-degree opposite. Not that he could tell her about his plan, yet. He knelt down in front of her. "No no no, Rachel, I'm not seeing anyone else. I won't be breaking up with you, ever."

"So who was the woman in red? At Tiffarny's?" Rachel sniffled. "Where were you when you texted me that you'd gotten stuck in the conference?"

Finn ran a hand through his hair. He didn't want to lie to her. But he had to lie to her. So, he started to tell the truth as much as possible, of course omitting the part of his engagement ring purchase from the story.

The woman whom Rachel had seen was a school nurse at his school and she had dragged him into shopping at Tiffany's since she needed a male opinion to buy a gift for her boyfriend (he didn't know she had a boyfriend though). But that was just it. And after that, he met up with Blaine to talk about Kurt.

"You should've told me to begin with," Rachel said in an accusing tone, wiping underneath her eyes with her thumb.

"I know, I'm sorry," Finn cradled her face to give her a chaste kiss. "Can you forgive me?" he caresses her cheeks and helped her wipe her tears.

Rachel nodded, but no smiles on her face yet. "But don't ever lie to me again."

"I'll give my words," Finn said, trying his best not to freak out at the thought that he would have to propose to her as soon as possible. When? How? He cleared his throat. "So, are we good?"

Much to Finn's relief, a small smile appeared around her lips. "We're good," Rachel responded.

"Aaaaand you wanna take Rusty out with me?" Finn asked.

"Only if _he_ wants us to take him out," Rachel said seriously.

Finn tipped his head back in laughter. "Yeah, right, we should be asking him then," Finn raised to his feet from the floor before holding his hand out to her. "C'mon, Rach," he nodded to the doorway.

Rachel took his hand and climbed off the bed.

By the time they walked Rusty to the dog park, her insecurities had gone. But one thing had never gone from her mind.

Sugar McIntosh.

Rachel's mischievous grin had been back.

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><p><strong>Please review :)<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and the responses! No, I didn't make Rachel go all crazy on Finn in the last chapter. But, maybe she will in the near future…? Not in this chapter, though. It depends on Penny Owen's craziness, which might give Rachel a run for her money. Anyway, Rachel's obsession with finding Sugar is definitely going on in this chapter too! I hope you'll enjoy the ride!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Glee and its characters, and any resemblance to real persons or organizations is purely coincidental.**

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><p><strong>Wednesday, November <strong>**25, 2015**

"Shoot!" Rachel abruptly stopped herself from walking as she cried. "I left the book in the apartment."

"What book?" Finn asked, impressed with his girlfriend's multitasking skills—she was rummaging into her red Celine luggage tote, at the same time managing to not drop her cupcake carrier, which was closely but neatly packed her lemon tarts as a palate freshener from the heavy Thanksgiving meal that they would have later.

"The vegan recipe book," Rachel responded, looking up at her boyfriend. "I promised Carole that I would bring the book with me today. She inquired of me what to buy for Burt's health the other day," she sighed. "I need to go back home to get the book," she stretched her arms out for Finn to take the cake carrier. "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up with you later."

"Mom won't mind if you make it another time," Finn said, but took the cake carrier with his empty hand nonetheless.

"Maybe. But it won't take longer than five minutes," Already walking away from the Hudson-Hummel brothers, Rachel said over her shoulder.

"So?" Kurt started, looking to see Rachel out of his sight.

"Huh?" Finn replied absent-mindedly, keeping balance not to ruin Rachel's tarts in one hand, nor to slip Ms. Bonaparte's carrier from the other hand.

"Blaine," Kurt simply said, switching his bag and the dog carrier from one hand to the other.

"Ah," Finn slightly looked down uncomfortably. "I just, uh, told him that you needed time, you know, to think."

"So I've heard," Kurt nodded, "from Rachel." He cleared his throat. "I don't like you to talk to him behind my back, to be honest, but, thank you."

"Just so you know, I'm upset, too. About what he's done to you," Finn shifted his gaze to his stepbrother. "I just want you to be happy whether or not you'll be back together with him. I'm sorry if you felt that I was obtrusive."

"No, you weren't," Kurt gave a tight smile at Finn before sighing. "I have to find a new apartment."

"You can stay in our apartment as long as you want," Finn said.

"Really?" Kurt arched his eyebrow. "Didn't you grumble that you two couldn't fornicate whenever you wanted?"

"Did I?" Finn feigned ignorance. "Then why did I get you those ear plugs?"

"They were utterly useless, Finn," Kurt rolled his eyes. "Anyway, we're almost there," he announced, gestured to the metro sign, as they passed by Madison Square Park.

Finn turned around to see if he could recognize the small figure of Rachel on the street, which he didn't. So, he placed the cat carrier down and pulled his cell phone from the back pocket of his jeans. But soon he frowned as he noticed that her phone had been turned off… or out of range?

"What?" Kurt asked, "is there something wrong?"

"She turned off her phone," Finn informed. "And I see no sign of her coming down the street," he nodded to the way they had come from. "I'm going back to see if she's okay," he was about to hold the cake carrier and the cat one out to his stepbrother.

"No no, Finn, no way. I'm not going to wait standing here alone with your pets and her tarts," Kurt hid his empty hand behind. "She'll soon be back. Until then, we'll be waiting there," he suggested, jutting his chin in the direction of a café across the subway entrance. "Text her where we are."

Having been thinking back and forth for a moment, Finn finally complied. "Okay. But if she doesn't show up in ten minutes, I'll be going to check up on her," he declared.

* * *

><p>When Rachel turned the corner at W 23 St. and 9th Av., she saw Mr. McIntosh just about to enter the New York Sport Club with his gym bag.<p>

"This is Moses telling me to take the chances!" Rachel told herself with excitement, doing a tiny dance at the place, oblivious to her status, which she might be one of the nominees for the best performance by an actress in a leading role in a musical in May next year. She hastened back to her apartment building.

If she remembered correctly, her last next-door neighbor, Mrs. Maggie Banks, had hidden her spare key on top of the casing of the doorjamb. Why did she know about that? Because, like she used to do for Mrs. Weston, Rachel had sometimes walked her dog, instead of her daughter, Clara.

The 5B was supposed to be Mrs. Banks' permanent nesting ground. She, however, unfortunately had to be taken to a caregiver center when her Alzheimer's disease got progressed a few weeks ago.

Anyway, if the super didn't change the keys, Rachel could use the spare to enter the apartment.

Rachel looked around the hallway as she knocked on the McIntosh's door. When nobody answered the door, she tiptoed to grab the spare from the casting, looking around the hallway once again, making sure that nobody could see her sneaking into the apartment. And she slowly tried the spare into the keyhole…

Bingo.

She let herself inside and quietly shut the door close behind.

Then she hastily made her way over to the bedroom (and this time, she didn't forget to turn off her cell phone).

She first peered into the closet; there were only a few sets of male suits and Sugar's pink Chanel tweed jacket. She rummaged into all the pockets but nothing in there. Next, she walked to the chest of drawers. Nothing interesting either.

She then tried the drawers of the night table to take a look.

She found two passports in there.

She took them out and flipped through them. One was of Sugar Applebee, along with an ID photo, which really looked like the Sugar whom Rachel knew, except for her hair color… and the color of her eyes (the Sugar whom Rachel knew had greenish eyes as far as she remembered, but this girl on the ID photo had brown). And the other was of Biff McIntosh.

So, the girl who had committed suicide was not the same Sugar whom Rachel knew? Was that just a coincidence that they had the same name and were like as two peas in a pod?

And Sugar McIntosh's maiden name was Applebee or not?

Most importantly, where was Sugar McIntosh anyway?

About to put those passports away in the drawer, Rachel noticed that there were two plane tickets beneath some documents. She ruffled the document to clearly see the tickets; open and one-way to Paris. For Mr. McIntosh and Ms. Applebee.

Rachel was too absorbed in thoughts, almost to hear some click sound coming from the front door.

She froze at the place for a moment. She drew a sharp breath, her hand flying up to her mouth.

_Move your legs, Rachel!_

She managed to return the tickets to the original position and closed the drawer quickly (and quietly) before taking her shoes off of her feet and rushing into the bathroom, hearing the footsteps approaching the bedroom.

Rachel could hear the person (she assumed that it was Biff) rummaging into the chest of drawers in the bedroom, and, and…

_Oh my God, is he coming into the bathroom?_

Rachel decided to hide herself in a bathtub, pulling the shower curtain in a rush. And she lay down on her stomach in the bathtub, praying that her loud heart beats would never reach his ears, and, and…

_Ewwwww._

The bathtub was still wet.

But this was not the time to worry about it.

She didn't know how long she had been holding her breath. She finally let out a long, deep sigh when Biff grabbed something from the bathroom cabinet and left the apartment.

Getting a big water stain on her leather tote as the form of her comeuppance, Rachel got out of Mr. McIntosh's apartment before walking barefooted to hers, her shoes in one hand, in the other her tote bag.

"Rachel!"

Startled, Rachel jumped at the unexpected call of someone's voice… well, Finn's, as she unlocked her door. Apparently she failed to hear a ding sound of the elevator. She spun around to face her boyfriend. "Hi, Finn," she said sheepishly.

"Where have you been? Why did it take so long?" Finn asked in a worried tone as he approached her. "And… why are your clothes… wet?"

Rachel yanked his arm to get him and herself inside their apartment. Having shut the door close, Rachel started. "I-I might have snuck into his apartment," she confided, looking at her boyfriend through her eyelashes.

"Huh?" Dumbfounded, Finn blinked his eyes. "W-what do you mean, you snuck into his apartment? Are you nuts?"

"Oh, come on, Finn, stop being such a fuddy-dud," Rachel suddenly turned defiant.

"A fuddy-dud?" Finn repeated, scandalized. "What are you talking about? That's a crime. You can't do that. That's, that's burglary and breaking and entering," he scolded. "What's gotten into you lately? Save a little craziness for your period or something for fuck's sake!" he raised his voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry that I'm crazy. But that's nothing to do with my menstruation!" Rachel narrowed her eyes, her arms across her chest. "Besides, It was a cinch. I took the spare and I just let myself in," she excused nonchalantly.

Finn ran a hand through his hair before letting out a sigh. "Baby, look," he said in a soft tone, placing his hands on her shoulders, "you can't do that. You can't just steal the key and then go into somebody's apartment."

"I didn't steal the key, Finn!" Rachel pouted. "I just borrowed Mrs. Banks' spare," she said plausibly. "And guess what?" her eyes lit up, "what do you think I found?"

"I don't want to know," Finn shook his head. "We gotta go. Kurt's waiting for us," he turned her around in the direction of the bedroom, encouraging her to change her clothes.

"I did a great job, you know," Rachel continued, "I don't think a private eye could have done any better than me. I put everything back where I found it, I was very careful," over her shoulder, she grinned triumphantly at Finn.

"Rach," Finn sighed. "I don't want to hear–"

"I'll be telling Kurt then," Rachel cut in in a sullen manner before heading for the bedroom.

Little did she notice was that her star shaped pendant had been slipped out of her neck and left in Mr. McIntosh's bathtub.

* * *

><p>By the time they got to the apartment in the Upper East Side, where you could overlook the Central Park, what Rachel had found in Mr. McIntosh's apartment completely thawed out Kurt's mood (he had been kept waiting at the café with the pets and the lemon tarts for approximately 47 minutes). Finn just rolled his eyes, trying his best to not join their conversation.<p>

"Mom, Burt," Finn yelled from the front door, "we're here!"

Carole rushed into the doorway before hugging them one by one as a greeting. "Puck's in the den with Burt. Quinn and the kids are coming in an hour. Oh, and Sam and Mercedes are coming later too," she informed.

"Are they?" Kurt arched his eyebrow. "I thought that they were going to be at Sam's parents house until tomorrow."

"Is that so?" Carole innocently asked, "Sam called us about thirty minutes ago, and he said that they wanted to see us."

"Hmm, well, the better the merrier," Kurt concluded.

"Carole," Rachel chimed in, "I got you the book as you'd requested." She handed the vegan recipe book out to her boyfriend's mother. "And those are my lemon tarts," she lifted the cake carrier from Finn's hand.

"Oh, you didn't have to bring anything," Carole took it from Rachel, "but thank you." Then she turned to face her son. "You and Rachel stay in the downstairs," she said before facing Kurt. "And you and Blaine–"

The Hudson-Hummel would always throw a Thanksgiving dinner party for two days in a row, on the fourth Wednesday and Thursday. Since Rachel become Finn's girlfriend and Blaine Kurt's, Carole arranged three bedrooms in the downstairs for Finn and Rachel, Puckerman family, one spared for an unexpected guest, and one in the upstairs for Kurt and Blaine, to stay the night.

"Uh, Carole," Kurt interrupted, "Blaine couldn't make it."

"Oh, that's a shame," Carole's face slightly fell. "I thought there was the actors' strike or something."

"Oh, there are some shows going on despite the strike, Carole," Rachel answered for Kurt, managing her quick thinking, to break the awkwardness between her best friend and his stepmother. "_Jersey Boys_ is one of them."

Carole nodded understandingly. "Well, Kurt, stay in the upstairs anyway, you know, as always," she gave a smile at her stepson.

After Finn and Rachel left their luggage in the bedroom downstairs, Finn wandered into the dining room while Rachel went upstairs to check up on Kurt.

"Mom?" Finn called out to the kitchen, "isn't this too much? For nine people and two kids," he gestured to the food on the table. "Are you expecting someone else? Other than Sam and Mer?" he asked, counting the number of the chairs.

"I might have forgotten to mention that Hiram and Leroy were coming?" Carole answered, carrying another dishes from the kitchen.

"W-what?" Fidgeted, Finn choked. "Does Rachel know that they are coming?"

"I don't think so," she giggled, placing the dishes on the vacant space on the table. "I was going to surprise her," she said, "you know, she's said that she couldn't see them until Hanukkah, or worse, New Years Eve. So, I secretly invited them."

Now Finn started thinking that Mr. Berrys joining the dinner would be good or bad for him. Sure, this was a kind of heaven-sent opportunity for him. He could ask their permission that he would propose to Rachel. But only if Rachel was out of her earshot. And one more thing that he was worried about was that her parents might act weird after he asked their permission.

Carole approached her son before slapping his hand, which was sneaking into one of the dishes. "Go play with the boys in the den, Finny. The dinner will be started only in thirty minutes."

Finn pouted, but complied nonetheless. He got out of the chair, but surreptitiously grabbing some potato fries.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, Rachel decided to go into the den since Kurt announced that he was going to take a shower. Burt was nowhere to be found in there. Finn was in the dining room or somewhere. She thought. So, she silently perched herself on the sofa. Next to Puck. Who was playing Xbox with his headset. And she stared at the side of his face expectantly with a mysterious smile.<p>

A while later, Puck did a double take at her sitting next to him. "Sup," he said, making a face, not bothering to stop playing.

Rachel frowned. So, she decided to interrupt him playing, reaching her hand to take his headset off of him.

"Whoa, the fuck?" Puck tried to shake her hand off. "I would be flattered if I had Finessa's weird taste, but I'm not interested in small tits."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Quinn's are little better than mine," she snorted. "Besides, Finn loves my boobs, saying that they perfectly fit his–"

"Alright," Puck cut her off, "what do you want?" he asked petulantly, throwing his controller onto the sofa.

Undaunted, Rachel gave him a big smile, her hands neatly on her lap. "I have something to ask."

"About what?" Puck folded his arms across his chest.

"About Sugar McIntosh," Rachel said, "or Sugar Motta." She studied Puck's face for a moment. "Or, Sugar Applebee?" She saw Puck slightly arching his eyebrow. Bingo. She straightened up on the sofa, tucking a pile of her hair behind her ear. "What if I knew something about them? What if I said that I had heard the strange noise coming from the hallway of my apartment on the night before Sugar Motta committed suicide?"

However, Puck just shrugged in answer.

"Why don't you share the information?" Rachel crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Why don't you tell me the reason you came to my apartment building yesterday?" she demanded.

"And why do I have to?" Puck challenged.

"You did share the information about Mrs. Weston's case with Finn, Noah!" Rachel annoyingly accused.

"Uh, because he's one of my best friends?" Puck shrugged.

"And I'm the girlfriend of your best friend!" Rachel glared at him. "Don't you get it? I could provide valuable information?"

"Uh, no?" Puck pretended, mentally noting the three of the name Sugar that Rachel had mentioned.

"Noah!"

Finn chose to enter the den when Rachel was about to throw a tantrum. He approached his girlfriend in a rush. "Rachel, what are you doing?" he tried to tear her away from his best friend.

"He's being a jerk, Finn!" Rachel whined with an appealing look.

Puck rolled his eyes. "The chick is crazy as hell, Finessa. You'd better tame this firecracker. Or just dump her."

"Dude–"

"Like you tamed your own woman!" Rachel cut Finn off, snarling.

Finn sighed before picking his girlfriend up from behind out of the sofa, which ended up Rachel's kicking in the air. "Rachel, babe, calm down," he deposited her on the floor and turned her around to face him. "Why are you dwelling on our neighbor, hmm?" he bent down to the same eye level, rubbing her arms up and down to calm her. "Why do you care?"

"Why not?" Rachel retorted, her arms across her chest. "How come you don't?"

Finn rubbed her face tiredly. "Rach, babe–"

"Finny, Rachel, Puck, time for dinner!" Carole's announcement interrupted Finn. She peered into the den before adding to her annoucement. "Rachel, your fathers are here!"

Rachel shot up her head to see in the direction of the doorway. "Are they?"

"Hmm-hmm," Carole nodded, smiling. "I secretly invited them for you," she informed.

"Oh, Carole," Rachel rushed into her boyfriend's mother. "That's very thoughtful of you," she hugged her tightly. "Thank you, Carole," with that, she skipped into the corridor with Carole, temporarily forgotten her _Operation Finding Sugar_.

Puck slowly stood up from the sofa before walking to his best friend, who was dumbfounded at his girlfriend's abrupt mood swing. He patted Finn on the shoulder. "Are you really ready to handle with _that_ for the rest of your life?"

"Huh?" Finn turned his head to see the Mohawk. "What did you just say?"

Puck patted him again. "Welcome to entering into the last legal form of slavery," he was about to walk away from Finn to exit the den.

"But that wouldn't be bad, would it?" Finn called out to the back of the Mohawk.

"Yeah, it's not that bad," Puck smirked at him over his shoulder. "Actually, it's really good. You know, even in the middle of fights."

Grinning Finn watched his best friend emerging out of the den. But soon his expression was changed into a frown, wondering how and when the Mohawk had figured out that he was going to ask Rachel to marry him.

* * *

><p>"I said, 'Leroy, this guy sold us the wrong lube,'" Hiram continued. "That's why the rubber is squeaking. That's why it feels so weird when we start going really fast," he explained seriously, not aware that his only child and Kurt face-palmed.<p>

"Excuse me, Hiram," Asked Leroy, who had just returned from the bathroom, hearing the part of the conversation going on between his spouse and Burt, "what are we talking about?" he asked, taking his chair.

"We're talking cars," Burt answered for Hiram.

Puck just chuckled as his wife, Quinn, rolled her eyes, her almost two year old son on her lap, her six years and five months old daughter absorbed in eating her food (fortunately) between her parents. Finn awkwardly shifted in his chair.

"Yeah, those clowns down at Local Lube they don't know how to lube a car," Hiram still continued.

"Carole," Leroy chimed in, clearing his throat, "the turkey was divine and the house is exquisite."

"Thank you, Leroy," Carole said appreciatively. "We–" Before she could finish her sentence, the doorbell interrupted. "Oh, that must be Sam and Mercedes!" She stood up from her chair before rushing into the front door.

A few moments later, Carole showed Sam and Mercedes into the dining room. The hostess clapped her hands to get the others' attention. "Guys, they have good news!"

The people sitting in their own chair faced the couple standing beside Carole all at once.

The couple giggled as they looked at each other, nudging their arms, discussing in a low voice who would break the news to everyone.

"Cut it out, Biebster," Puck snapped, having had it as he saw the lovey-dovey couple.

The blonde guy narrowed his eyes, however his girlfriend with black weaving hair didn't seem to mind the Mohawk's attitude. She beamed, looking around the table, before holding her left hand up to get them to see the back of it. More precisely, the third finger of her left hand.

"We're engaged!"

Sam and Mercedes happily announced in unison.

All the people, other than Finn, and Puck, who took his son from Quinn, sprung to their feet and approached the couple to congratulate and study the ring on Mercedes' third finger.

Finn cursed under his breath in his chair. The time was definitely not his side. Why? Why did the Ken doll have to pick this day to announce their engagement? In front of his entire family? Right before he could propose to his girlfriend and announce the engagement to his own family (and Rachel's)? He would look like as if jumping on the bandwagon when he would actually do that!

"How about you two? Finn?" Sam insensitively asked. "Have you thought about it?"

Here it came.

And now all of them threw some expectant look at him. Dammit!

"Uh," Finn rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "I don't know, we've never talked about it, so…" he mumbled.

"What did you buy the apartment for, then?" Sam pressed as he took the chair next to him. "You should, Finn, you should," he patted the back of Finn.

Fuck! Was he holding grudge on him or something? What had he done to him? Nothing! Finn pinched the bridge of his nose, tilting his head backward.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think so," Quinn bitterly chimed in. "No offense, Finn," she turned her head to see the brunette, "but you're still young, Rachel. 23? 24 next month? I think you should enjoy your life first."

Puck let out a sigh. "Quinn, don't put a dampener on celebrations."

"I'm just stating the facts from my experiences," Quinn glared at her husband.

Kurt silently lifted Beth from the her chair and fled into the living room.

"Enough," Burt raised his voice, "we're in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner, and we've just heard the good news from Sam and Mercedes. Why don't we just sit and eat politely, appreciating your family and friends?" He turned to face Mr. and Mrs. Puckerman. "Take your fighting somewhere else."

"I apologize, sir," Puck rubbed his Mohawk nervously.

"I'm sorry, Burt," Quinn ducked her head.

"Mercedes, take your seat," Carole encouraged her. "What would you like to drink? You know what? I'll get a bottle of champagne," she declared before walking into the kitchen.

Relieved. Finn couldn't feel more grateful than ever to his parents thoughtfulness. His face, however, formed into a frown when he stole a glance at his girlfriend's expression. She seemed kind of sad? Hurt?

He let out a sigh.

He needed to ask her to marry him fast. Like making her forget tonight's mishap.

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><p><strong>AN: I've really wanted to use the conversation between Hiram and Burt in the episode 3x13 'Heart,' since it's hilarious!**

**Please review :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and for the responses!**

**In this chapter, I am going to mention Jenny, who was, in case that there are those who have not read 'The Boy Next Door,' Finn's high school girlfriend having cheated on him with his best friend (not Puck) and caused him to be unable to trust women subsequently (she was sort of Quinn in Glee, but thousands times harpy).**

**And since this chapter is on the Thanksgiving Day, NFL Thanksgiving games are mentioned a bit as well. Actual three games on the day in 2015 are still TBA. So, I picked up Lions vs. Packers and Cowboys vs. Jets as the two of the games (and depicted Jets as a still underdog despite the fact in the real world that a new HC and GM were hired).**

**I'm under the weather now. :( I've totally forgotten how terrible you feel with a cold because it's been a while since I had it last time. It's getting colder outside these days, so take care of yourself too!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Glee and its characters, and any resemblance to real persons or organizations is purely coincidental.**

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><p><strong>Thursday, November <strong>**26, 2015**

"Finn, it's time to wake up!" Rachel shook her boyfriend's long arm back and forth. "Rusty needs to go out and exercise," she tried again.

"Hmmmmm," Finn rolled onto the other side away from her in his sleep.

Actually, he had already been awake for hours. No. He couldn't sleep at all, to be honest. Then why did he pretend to continue his slumber? Did he need to tell the reasons? Which were so obvious.

For one, he was pissed at Sam, who had totally ruined his night. For another, he also was upset about what Quinn had said to Rachel, which he believed was unnecessary. He knew that his best friend could be a jerk with bravado and sometimes felt bad for Quinn, who had to be a mother at the age 21 in college, gotten knocked up by the Mohawk. But still.

In addition to that, the married couple was having make-up sex all night in the next room to his and Rachel's (Kurt had reluctantly undertaken the task of Eli-sitting, Beth in Burt's and Carole's bedroom). Which, of course, totally killed Rachel's mood and he wasn't able to get any action. Though he wasn't going to to begin with because the Berrys were staying on the same floor.

And now he was forced to revise his plan from scratch.

"Fine," Rachel climbed off the bed as she sensed that Finn was unlikely to wake up at any minute. "I'll take him out _alone_."

Finn heard her tone changed. He generally took Rusty for a walk and exercise with Rachel in the morning when he was not on a school day. This morning, however, he shut his eyes tightly, refusing to open them or move his large body from the bed to accompany her. Mentally apologizing to her, he told himself that it would be the best for both of them, while he heard his girlfriend preparing to go-out with the dog.

A few minutes later, having heard Rachel leaving the room, Finn finally opened his eyes. He tilted his head to glance at the doorway before crawling out of the bed. Then he quietly opened the door, poking his head to look around the corridor. Rachel was nowhere to be found. She must have already been out with Rusty.

Finn quickly traveled into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face before returning to the bedroom to change into some decent clothes. He took a glance at the time on his cell phone on the night table. While he knew that it was still early for him and them to have serious conversations, he had no choice, nor time.

* * *

><p>Finn stopped in front of the guest room. He breathed deeply before knocking on the door softly.<p>

"Come in."

Finn wrenched the door open slowly and peered into the room.

"Finn! Good morning," greeted Hiram, standing beside the closet, already in a pair of gray slacks and a purple V-neck sweater, as he encouraged him to enter the room with a wave of his hand.

Finn slowly let himself in the room before starting. "I, uｍ, am sorry to bother you such early morning, but I–"

"I didn't know that you were interested in us," Hiram interrupted, placing his hands on his chest, looking at Finn fondly. "It is unfortunate but we have a strict rule whom to choose for three-way," he deadpanned.

"Hiram, really," Leroy admonished, stopping his hand from folding his clothes on the bed, giving a look to his significant other.

"W-what? N-no!" Finn cried, frantically waving his hands before him. "I just, I-I was just–," he choked.

"Finn, I was just kidding," Hiram chuckled, walking to the bed. "So? What did you want to talk to us?" he smiled up at Finn as he perched himself on the edge of the bed.

Finn cleared his throat, wiping his hands on his chinos. "I said that Rachel and I hadn't talked about marriage last night, but I, um, have been thinking about it for weeks, to ask her to marry me," he rubbed the back of his neck. "Actually, it was the last April that the idea of marrying her popped up in my head for the first time, on the way back home from Bronx Zoo with her," he said in one breath.

Finn felt his mouth dry, his hands more sweaty otherwise, but he went on nonetheless. "A-and, I'd like you to know that this was not because Sam and Mercedes had announced their engagement, o-nor, I'm just jumping on the bandwagon. I swear, it wasn't, because I, eh, have already gotten the ring, and, and, I would have flown to Ohio if there wasn't the strike, a-and–" he rambled.

"Get to the point, Finn," Leroy interrupted, depositing himself on the bed next to Hiram. "What's your point?"

"I, um," Finn swallowed thickly, "I was wondering if I'd have your blessing."

Hiram and Leroy exchanged looks and both turned their heads to face Finn standing in front of them.

"Of course, you have our–"

"Hiram," Leroy cut him off, placing his hand on his spouse's arm, his eyes still on Finn. "Finn, you're really a good boy, a good boyfriend to Rachel as well. But I think she's too young to get married," he said with a stern face.

Finn blinked a few times, his mouth quivering at the dismissal. Although there were always possibilities that fathers would turn down, he hadn't ever expected that he would be shut down outrightly by her fathers (one of them, to be more precise) since he got along with them so well so far, at least he thought they did.

"Quinn, is that the blonde lady's name?" Leroy continued. "She had a point there. You might reach the age to be a married man, but Rachel'll be turning 24 next month. You should know, for women, getting married at 20 to 24 years old would most likely end in divorce. Besides, you two are together only for 2 years."

"Leroy, really," this time was Hiram chiming in. He was sporting the same look as Finn was (well, Finn had paler and more horrified look than Hiram did though). "They have cohabited for almost the same amount of time, just in case that you forgot," he pointed out.

"Ah, cohabitation," Leroy nodded, as if he predicted what his husband (or Finn) would retort. "Did you know that there was the study which revealed that premarital cohabitation was associated with a higher risk of divorce, for women specifically, regardless of the couple's intention to marry when they moved in together?" Leroy reasoned, looking at his husband.

"That's," Finn cried out, "that's a load of bull! Statistics are utter bullshit!" He was too shocked to be careful with his words. He didn't know whether or not his hands' vibrating was because of his anger at the unfairness of which Leroy had brought up the stupid studies and statistics.

"A-at whatever age they marry," Finn continued, knowing that he needed some damage control (but honestly, he didn't know how), "there are always only three options; staying married, separation, and divorce," he said looking into Leroy's eyes, his hands still vibrating. "The same goes for cohabitation before marriage. Some couples bite the dust, some don't. I-I would be lying if I said that we-we'd never had a fight. I understand that you're looking out for your daughter and I respect that. But I love her, I will always love her no matter what. I can't imagine my life without her in it. I want to be the reasons she smiles and laughs everyday for the rest of my life, just like she's been to me."

Finn breathed heavily as he finished, feeling his face hot.

Leroy widened his eyes at Finn's outburst and looked at him for a moment. "Finn," he sighed, "I'm not saying that you two shouldn't get married. If you're so sure you'll always love her, why now? Her career has just taken off. Why can't you wait a little longer? Why do you rush into things?"

When Finn was about to open his mouth, Hiram cut in.

"What's your problem, Leroy?" Hiram folded his arms across his chest. "You said that he was a good boy and a good boyfriend to our daughter, didn't you? Don't you think that he is the right person for her?"

"I just want her to experience a lot of things before she gets married. That's it," Leroy said stubbornly, averting his eyes away from his spouse and soon-to-be-his-son-in-law.

Hiram let out a sigh. "Finn," he stood up from the bed and approached the shell shocked Finn, "he just doesn't want to admit that Rachel is not his baby girl anymore, even though you two are living together for a while," he shook his head as he patted Finn on the shoulder before leading him towards the doorway. "I'm going to talk some sense into him," he whispered in his ear before adding. "Don't worry, Finn, you'll have _our_ blessing before you know it," he reassured, winking at him.

All Finn could do was nod.

He stood in a stupor in front of the closed door of the guest room for a while, trying his best not to get panicked.

How was he going to win Leroy's heart over to have his blessing?

Drained, he dragged his feet on the way to his bedroom.

* * *

><p>Rachel peered inside the bedroom after she had walked Rusty to the Central Park, only to find Finn still in bed.<p>

She frowned as she saw his clothes and sleeping posture; he had already changed his clothes, but lying on one side of the bed in a fetal position, folding his arm across his chest, turning away from the doorway.

She knew what it meant. She had been there so many times. Something was upsetting Finn. Or he was suffering some conflict between his emotional side and rational one.

The first time Rachel had seen this Finn was after they had bumped into Jenny in the street on the way back home from the theater over a year before.

AT that time, Finn thought that he had already forgiven her and let the past between them go. He, however, got upset when they got home, mostly because not only did Jenny make an apology for what she had done to him, but also turned defiant showering insults on him _and_ Rachel, saying with a snicker that it was no wonder that beautiful girls (like her) easily lost their interests in a guy like him because he had bad taste in women.

A new anger gushed out, which made Finn think that he could never forgive her, that he could never let the past go. Which totally confused and twisted Finn's head. Him not being able to at least let it go made him doubt that he deserved Rachel.

It took a few hours for Rachel to get him to open up and all night to untie his twisted mind; he didn't have to forgive Jenny nor let the past go, it didn't mean that he loved Rachel less, Jenny was just a big bloody pathetic lair playing with people's minds, don't let her get in his head (just like he had once said to Rachel).

Rachel sighed. She climbed onto the bed and got laid down close to him. Then she placed her arm on his from behind, placing her lips on his shoulder. And they stayed like that for a while.

"Do you want to talk about what's upsetting you?" finally breaking the silence, Rachel quietly asked.

Finn, however, shook his head; there was no way in hell that he was going to tell her about _that_.

Rachel figured that it would take more time than the night after they had encountered Jenny, since she had no idea as to what was bothering him. So, she decided to change the subject. "Aren't you hungry? Your mother's making your favorite pancakes. Everyone's waiting for us upstairs."

Finn tilted his head towards her before switching his sides on the bed to pull her into his chest. "I _am_ hungry, I always am hungry, you know that."

Rachel giggled at his words, which caused his trademark lopsided smile to creep to his lips. She gently caressed his cheek before climbing off the bed and stretching her arm for him to get out of the bed. "Come on, then."

Finn took her hand in his before pushing his body up with the other arm. He, however, let go of her hand when he sat up on the bed. "Go first, I'm going to the bathroom."

"Okay," Rachel nodded with a tight smile, ignoring some uneasiness in her stomach.

When Rachel was about to exit the room, Finn called out to stop her. "Rachel?"

Rachel whirled around in the doorway and waited for him to say something patiently without a word.

"Um," Finn hesitated, running a hand through his hair. "Have you ever thought that you wanted to ex–," he cleared his throat, "I mean, that you wanted to date another guy?"

Dumbfounded, Rachel's jaw dropped open, looking at her boyfriend as if he had begun to grow horns on his head. "Where did that come from?" she asked scandalized.

"Have you?" Finn repeated, frowning at the fact that she had not answered his question.

"Of course not!" Rachel cried. "I have never thought about such a thing!" she crossed her arms in front of her chest, feeling a bit hurt. Why did he have to ask that kind of things? Didn't he trust her? Did he feel that she had not expressed her love for him enough? Or…

"Have you? That's why you asked?" Rachel gingerly asked.

"What? No!" Finn sprung to his feet before rushing to his girlfriend. "No, no, baby, no, I didn't mean that," he amended. "I just, I–," he looked up at the ceiling because he didn't come up with anything. So, he pulled her into his chest to envelop her before saying. "I love you, Rachel, no matter what," he breathed into her hair.

Confused, Rachel frowned in his arms, her hands on his chest. However, she said back to him nonetheless. "I love you too, Finny."

* * *

><p>By the time the game between Lions and Parckers began, Finn's mood seemed uplifted. Out of the corner of her eye glancing at him sitting on the sofa with the other boys in the living room, Rachel continued bringing her theory to the girls' squad plus Kurt in the dining room.<p>

"What do you guys think? I don't think the three Sugars are different people."

"Motta… I heard that before," Carole said under her breath, tilting her head to one side. "I don't remember where, but…" she pursued her lips tightly, absorbed in thought.

"Putting the fact that you broke the law aside, Rachel," Mercedes started in a slightly accusing tone, folding her arms across her chest, "why don't you just ask Puck about the girl who committed suicide?" she nodded in the direction where Puck and the other boys were moved between joy and despair.

"I tried!" Rachel cried, leaning further into the chair. "But he was niggling me and never provided the information!" she huffed, blowing her bangs, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Which means," Kurt chimed in, "Sugar Motta probably didn't commit suicide, the police haven't ruled out foul play." He turned his head to face Puck's wife. "Don't you think?"

"He has by no means one conversation about work at home," Quinn informed. "Except for his idiots of colleagues' _'heroic'_ episodes, him included," air-quoting rolling her eyes, she added matter-of-factly. "But the police generally have no duty of confidentiality."

"Hmm, interesting," Kurt frowned, one arm folded across his chest, the other hand rested beneath his chin. "So, they don't have any valuable information either," he concluded.

"That is, _you_ cued in him, Rachel," Mercedes said, leaning forward.

Rachel's eyes lit up. "I'm one step ahead of the police?" she clapped her hands excitedly. "I'll definitely have to continue a background check on Mr. and Mrs. McIntosh then!"

"Rachela?" Hiram called out, walking into the dining room. "I'm afraid we must be going," he announced.

"Already?" Rachel got out of the chair before approaching her fathers.

"Unfortunately," Leroy answered behind his husband.

"Oh, okay," Rachel nodded. "I'll see you off at the airport then," she said before going downstairs to grab her coat and purse.

* * *

><p>When the Berrys finished expressing their gratitude to Burt and Carole for letting them stay overnight and saying goodbyes to everyone, Finn got out of the sofa and grabbed their luggage by the doorway.<p>

"Could I have a minute of your time before you go?" Finn said in a low voice to not reach anyone's ear other than the Berrys. "Walk a talk?"

"I truly am sorry about this morning. I didn't mean to get worked up like that," Finn started once they stepped out of the apartment.

"No, Finn, I am the one to apologize," Leroy cut him off. "Hiram was right," he glanced at his spouse, who was trying to hail a cab at the curb. "I," he shook his head, "overreacted a bit, hearing you asking us for her hand in marriage." He sighed. "I just… She's always my little girl, you know, wearing a pink tutu, dancing around the living room."

Recalling the time when he visited the Berrys with Rachel in Lima last year and saw some pictures of her childhood, Finn automatically broke into a smile.

Leroy examined Finn's face before clearing his throat. "I know that she really loves you and your face now proves enough that you're really into her too, so, uh," he saw Rachel's red coat behind the glass door of the apartment building, "good luck with your proposal," he quickly added.

Finn's heart soared. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he hugged Leroy tightly, not aware that Rachel was approaching them.

Confused, Rachel frowned with a smile, seeing her father and boyfriend hugging as she finally caught up with the three of them. "What's going on here?" she asked.

"Nothing!" Finn answered as he abruptly tore himself away from her father.

"We just invited you two to the annual Caribbean cruise next year." Leroy promptly lied, shooting a look at Hiram, who finished placing their luggage in the cab trunk.

"I didn't know that you wanted to join them in the cruise," Rachel said, turning to see her boyfriend.

"But we'll understand that you two couldn't make it," Hiram chimed in, seeing Finn unable to think of an answer, "because, you know, you're busy with your show and it's not easy for him to take some time off at the end of the school year."

"Yeah," Rachel said, still frowning, out of the corner of her eye glancing at Finn, who was rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, shall we?" she shook her head and gestured for her fathers to get in the cab before turning to face her boyfriend again. "I'll be back in a couple of hours," she tiptoed to kiss him.

Finn nodded at his girlfriend before shaking his hand in a firm grip with the Berrys respectively. "Have a smooth flight, Sir."

"Thank you, Finn," Leroy patted him on the shoulder. "Take care of yourself and my daughter," he threw a meaningful look at him before getting into the cab.

After he Had waved a hand to them, seeing the cab driving off, Finn stood at the curb with a goofy grin for a while. Now all he had left was pick a place and a day to ask Rachel to marry him!

* * *

><p>When Rachel got back to the Hudson-Hummel apartment, the boys and Burt were completely engrossed in the game of Cowboys versus Jets on the TV while the girls and Carole were preparing the dinner for all of them. So, she decided to help Carole, wandering through the dining room towards the kitchen. Until something caught her eyes.<p>

Rachel came to a halt at the corner of the table, to pick up a thing which was buzzing and flashing vertiginously.

"Finn," Rachel called out from the dining room. "Your phone has been ringing off the hook."

Finn, however, didn't seem to notice that she had spoken to him since the game was coming to the climax in the third quarter. So, Rachel walked back to the living room and called his name again. "Finn?"

"Hmm?" he answered absent-mindedly, his eyes glued to the TV.

"Fuck off, Berry," Puck shushed. "Dammit!" he cried as Todd Bowles' blitzing scheme had just failed _again_. "Bowles is a one-trick pony! Blitz doesn't work out. We don't have a good secondary!" he yelled at the TV screen.

"We?" Sam chuckled, "when did you become their HC?"

"Fuck you, Kentucky boy. I've been a hard-core gang green ever since I can remember," Puck threw some popcorns at the blonde guy.

"Finn?" Rachel tried again. "Your phone is ringing."

"Hmm," Finn's eyes still were fixated on the TV. "Can you answer the phone for me?" he said without turning to look at his girlfriend before he jumped out of the sofa when Dexter McDonald miraculously succeeded an intercept. He shared hi-fives with Puck and Burt.

Rachel rolled her eyes as she answered the phone instead of Finn, returning back to the dining room. "Hello? Finn Hudson's phone, Rachel's speaking."

"_Who?"_

"Huh?" Rachel looked at the screen of the phone with a frown, "uh, Rachel."

"_May I speak to Finny?"_

_Finny?_ Who the heck was this? "Um, he's unable to come to the phone right now. Excuse me, but who am I speaking to?" Rachel asked, still knitting her brows.

"_Oh."_

Rachel heard the voice sounded disappointed.

"_I'm Penelope. He said that he was going to phone me but I couldn't wait to hear from him, so here I am!"_

The girl named Penelope giggled and kept going before Rachel could put a word in.

"_I was thinking if he would like to meet me tomorrow? I know that he chose the necklace for me to get at Tiffany because he said that it looked good on me. But I had a second thought to get the other one too, you know, that he also mentioned that it was very me."_

So, this girl was the one who had gone shopping with Finn at Tiffany. Having stolen a glance at the living room, Rachel fled to the downstairs, listening to the girl's blabbing. Once she shut the door of the bedroom behind her, she straightened up to confront the girl who seemed to try to steal her man. "Are you aware that you're talking to his _girlfriend_?" she punctuated as she bluntly asked.

"_Are you? I thought that his girlfriend's name was Rafaela or Rebecca or something."_

Rachel rolled her eyes. "It's Rachel," she firmly announced. "And don't you have a boyfriend? Does he know that you're hitting on another guy who already has a girlfriend?" But all she heard was her small laugh. She felt her blood begin to boil in her head. She was sure that some steam was visibly given off from her ears and her head now.

"_Did he say that? I have a boyfriend? Hmm, he might have made up a story to cover up our date."_

Although Penelope mumbled with giggles the last part of her words on the other end of the phone, Rachel could clearly hear what she had just said. "Date? You must have misunderstood. It was not a date!" she raised her voice despite herself. "I know that _you_ dragged him into Tiffany to buy something for yourself."

"_That's where you're wrong, Rebecca."_

"It's _Rachel_," Rachel stomped her feet at the place.

"_Anyway, I'll be calling later when he's available. I hope you won't be bothering to answer his phone without his permission, Rafaela."_

With that, Penelope hung up on Rachel.

When Rachel was about to go upstairs and get her boyfriend to explain everything, the phone buzzed again. She scrolled the phone screen to read the text that had just come in.

**Why did you tell her that I had a boyfriend? As far as I'm concerned, YOU asked me to keep you company, didn't you? Should I take it that we're going on a second date tomorrow? I understand that it's not easy to break up with her, but I believe we'll be together soon. I'm going to bed tonight holding your word onto my heart. I know we're getting along REALLY well. – Penelope**

On her rational side, she knew that Finn was not one to engage in infidelity. On the other hand, he was apparently hiding something from her, if there was some truth of Penelope's words. Rachel knew that Finn was very attractive unlike her and a man of many girls' dream, which sometimes made her insecurities pop up in her head. She was vertically-challenged with a big nose after all.

But her love for him was second to none!

Rachel tried to control her breathing from some wrath towards the thick skin girl on the phone before emerging out of the bedroom to confront her boyfriend.

* * *

><p>"You lied to me," Rachel slid herself between the TV and the sofa where the boys and Burt were sitting on, her arms across her chest, tapping her foot impatiently.<p>

"Huh?" Finn tilted his head down to one side to continue watching the game.

"What the fuck, Berry?" Puck cried out. "Move your ass!" he nudged Finn's arm. "Dude, do something!"

Rachel glanced back at the TV quickly before turning her head to throw a sharp glare at the Mohawk. "Shut it, Puckerman! Who cares? Your team's losing anyway," she said and her gaze shifted to her boyfriend. "So, that was why you asked me?"

"Huh?" Confused, Finn repeated. "Baby, would you just move, please? Jets are on a crucial third down right now," he gestured for her to move.

Rachel's nostril flared. "You asked me was because _you_ wanted to dating another woman, wasn't it?"

"What?" Finn finally tore his gaze away from the TV screen to meet his girlfriend's eyes. His face sported a dumbfounded look, his jaw dropping open. "W-what are you talking about?"

Having decided that their soon-turning-to-be-some-quarrel was more fun to watch than to witness his team losing, Puck rested his body backwards into the sofa, his hand to stop Burt from interfering them, before placing his arms behind his head. "They're like an old married couple, much more interesting to watch than a comedy show," he chuckled. "They're even wearing the weird matching smell!"

"It was from Penelope," Rachel held his phone up in the air. "The call," she continued, "she said that she didn't have a boyfriend and _you_ asked her to go out with you!"

"Penelope? Who?" Finn asked with a frown.

"The woman that you took out to Tiffany!" Rachel raised her voice, her hand on her hip, the other still holding his phone in the air, ignoring that now all the girls and Kurt walked into the living room to see what was going on.

"Um, uh," Finn ran a hand through his hair, not finding the way to explain the shopping excursion omitting the part of his purchasing the engagement ring.

Rachel's rage gradually formed into some anxiety since Finn hadn't answered her important question. "Do you?" her voice deflated. Then she was about to move her empty hand up to her neckline in order to calm her nervousness with touching her pendant. "Oh, my God!" she cried out. With a surely realization that she lost her pendant somehow, she loosed her grip of the phone.

"Ow, ow, ow!" Finn tried in vain to rescue his phone from falling into the beer pitcher.

_PLOP._

"Oh, my God!" Rachel repeated, her hand on her mouth, unaware that Finn's phone was now completely soaked in the beer. She rushed into the downstairs, leaving everybody making faces in the living room.

"What was _that_?" Kurt said, picking Rusty up from the floor.

Undecided whether he should chase after his girlfriend or check his phone first, Finn stood on his feet at the place, his eyes to the way Rachel ran to. Then he glanced down at the beer pitcher, to find that his phone had already been pulled out of it by someone. He shifted his gaze to the blonde guy, who was now removing the battery, SIM card and SD card from the phone.

"What?" Sam looked at Finn, neatly placing the phone parts on the paper towel.

"What are you doing with my phone?" Finn asked, frowning.

"I just tried to save your data from water damage," Sam replied nonchalantly. "I can't guarantee, but it might help to save your phone."

"Oh," Finn rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, thanks." _But you can't wipe your ruining my night off the books._ He mentally added before shaking his head. "I, um, am going to check up on Rachel," he announced and walked out of the living room, wondering what had just happened and how he was going to explain the shopping with Penny Owen.

Finn let out a sigh, feeling a headache start bugging him.

Well, at least the Berrys had already been on the way home. He should be relieved that they hadn't seen him and their daughter making a scene in the living room.

* * *

><p><strong>Please review :)<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and for the responses! Sorry for the late update. I've been down with a cold for a while. Now I'm fine again! I'm fully aware that I ignored the (real) broadcasting schedule of NFL Thanksgiving games in the last chapter and will in this chapter (my imaginary third game is Giants vs. Broncos). I hope you guys could bear with the contradictory to the real world.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Glee and its characters, and any resemblance to real persons or organizations is purely coincidental.**

* * *

><p><strong>Still Thursday, November <strong>**26, 2015**

Finn took a deep breath before slowly opening the door to the downstairs bedroom. He poked his head through it seeing inside, only to find his girlfriend frenziedly rummaging her luggage freaking out. Unlike the morning that she had come to realize that she had lost her flower ring, certifiably freaking out.

Rachel dropped her head down on her chest along with a loud sigh, her knees down on the floor beside the bed, trying her best to concentrate on her memory access; How did it happen? When was her star shaped pendant slipped out of the necklace chain? Breathing heavily, she endeavored to reach back into her memory of the previous day.

When something hit the back of her mind, her boyfriend's voice snapped her thoughts up.

"Rachel?"

Rachel shot up her head before turning it to find her boyfriend standing with a concerned look in the doorway. She stared at him with flustered eyes, nervously fumbling her pendant-less thin chain around her neck.

Smelling something other than her agitation by Penny Owen's call, Finn walked over to the bedside without a single word. He sat on the floor next to her and studied her eyes, which had been following every movement he made. His knees to his chest, his arms wrapping his folded legs, Finn patiently waited for her to speak up.

"Finn–" Rachel's voice was barely audible, feeling guilty not only because some realization crossed her mind, but also what she had lost was her 23rd birthday gift from him. "I-I'm sorry," she clasped his sleeve in her balled hands, her forehead rested on his upper arm. "I've lost the star pendant that you gave me last year," she whispered.

"Oh," Finn looked down at her, half relieved, half confused. Sure, he was a bit disappointed that she had lost his gift for her, but it was not like she had thrown it away on purpose, right? It had been an accident, it happened sometimes. He had no idea why Rachel seemed to get the wind up so much. "Rachel, it's fine, it's no big deal," he assured her, a slight frown marred his forehead.

Rachel looked up through her eyelashes before she flattened his knees on the floor and straddling his legs between her own, her arms around his neck. "You're not mad?" she asked fidgeted.

Pulling himself a bit away from her face, Finn stared at her with a funny look. "Why would I be? It was an accident, right?"

Deciding to distract him from her following confession, Rachel buried her face in his neck, starting to plant chaste kisses on it and not so subtly grind on his groin.

Not aware of what she was aiming for, Finn immediately closed his eyes, loving her soft lips and the friction, his hand automatically sneaking under her skirt to gently rub her thighs.

"Yes. But i-it might," Rachel hesitated, keeping her trick play with her lips and hips, "have happened when I lay down in a bathtub." She confessed, cunningly omitted where exactly she had lost the pendant from it.

"Hmmmmm."

Rachel's warm fabric between her legs and her hot breath on his neck diverted his attention, Finn failed to understand what she was getting at. And now his hands slid into her panties and started to caress her butt cheeks.

Assuming that she successfully distracted her boyfriend, Rachel continued her ministration for him. Then she suddenly came up with some idea, which she thought was a good one, for her to satisfy her curiosity and spend adventurous time with him during the strike. That would be exciting!

"Do you think," Rachel started between her kisses onto his lips, "you could come with me," another kiss, playing with his nape with her gentle fingers, "to get it back? I mean," she pecked on his lips once again before quickly adding, "I don't know whether he found it in the bathtub or not."

Feeling too good around his already hard-on to have his capability to comprehend her suggestion correctly, Finn easily agreed with nods.

"Great!" Rachel said cheerfully, abruptly pulling her face from his. "Now I could go further to solve the mystery!" satisfied, she told herself, clapping her hands as she was about to climb off of his lap.

Finn's eyes fluttered open by missing her intimate contacts with his lips and his boner, which made him finally realize what he had just been forced into. "Whoa, hold on," he narrowly grabbed her hand to pull her down in order to get her to expound _and_ resume what she had been doing to his body. "What did you just say?" he asked. "Who did you mean? Who's he?"

Forcibly restored to the original position on him, Rachel bit her bottom lip.

"Rachel?" Finn asked again in a more demanding tone this time, gripping her waist tightly with one arm not to let her escape.

"I, um," Rachel started, her eyes cast down, "lost it yesterday," she took a pause before confiding, "when I snuck into Mr. McIntosh's apartment."

Finn let out a sigh, running an empty hand through his hair. "Alright, forget about the pendant," he said firmly. "And we're definitely not gonna go in there."

"But I want it back!" Rachel pouted, pleading with her best puppy dog eyes. "That's my favorite, Finn! I figured now where I left it, so why not?"

"Rachel!" Finn admonished. "Even so, you're not gonna sneak into his apartment. How many times do I have to tell you this? It's a crime, Rach. You're not supposed to do such a thing!" he shot a sharp look at her.

"I'm not saying that we're going to sneak into his apartment!" Rachel argued. "We'll be just visiting our neighbor to get acquainted, you know, bringing a cake or something? And I could be looking for my pendant if you'd have a nice conversation with him or them, if Sugar is home, in the living room or somewhere but the bathroom," she suggested nonchalantly, ignoring her boyfriend's reprimand.

"Cut it out, Rach," Finn shook his head, "I know what you're thinking. I'm most certainly not gonna do that for you."

Finn saw her stern eyes on his own, her lips pouted. Usually, Finn loved looking back into her big brown eyes, which never failed to show her love for him. Those eyes always lit up when she saw him. Her presence itself made any room brightened up, but her eyes? They made his spirits lightened. But he now could see flames blazing up in them, which made him shift uncomfortably at the place.

"Well, in that case, you don't have to come with me to get it back then," Rachel said in a sullen manner as she shook his hand off of her waist. "So that you could go on a date with Penelope tomorrow, right?" she concluded irrationally, rising to her feet on the floor.

"Huh?" Dumbfouded, Finn blinked once or twice before looking up at his girlfriend.

"You said that she had a boyfriend, which she doesn't. You promised me that you wouldn't lie to me, but you did. _Again!_" Rachel raised her voice, her hand on her hip.

"I just didn't want you to be worried, that's it, Rach!" Finn stood up and attempted to reach for her, but Rachel stepped back before he could touch her. "Babe, I'm not interested in her, not one bit, I swear!" he tried to step closer to her again.

Rachel stepped backward until she couldn't anymore. She folded her arms across her chest in defense for her insecurities. "Oh, really? Then why did you give her your number to begin with? Why did you ask her to keep you company, Finn? Haven't you read her text?" she asked in an accusing tone.

"I don't know how she got my number!" Finn cried out. "And I didn't ask her to keep me company either!" he stretched his arms to soothe her arms up and down before telling the truth (but managing to replace the part of 'the engagement ring' with 'her 24th birthday present') and how he had ended up with Penny Owen forcibly. "If you don't believe, ask Mrs. Penkala or Blaine!" he said, hoping they would be playing along with the part of the object that he had got if his girlfriend would really make a phone call or something.

"Give me your phone," Rachel held her hand out to him. "I don't have Mrs. Penkala's number or her email address, so give it to me."

"Um," Finn tilted his head up to stare at the ceiling, wondering if he should tell her that he hadn't been able to read it because his cell phone might have been damaged because of her. "My cell phone might have been broken." he decided against it because it could add fuel to the fire in her eyes if he would say that _she_ had broken his phone even though it had not meant her intention.

"Broken?" narrowing her eyes suspiciously, Rachel looked up at him. Completely oblivious of her having dropped his phone into the beer jar, she wondered if he destroy the evidence of his tryst with Penelope on purpose.

"Babe," Finn wrapped his arms around her waist, letting her arms around his neck. He decided to execute her trick play for distraction, craning his neck, starting to place his lips on her nape, which made her drive crazy. "You're the only one that I want, you know that right?" he whispered against her nape. He smirked as he felt her shudder by his tongue. So, he scooped her off the floor, his hands cupping her perfect round ass, pressing her tiny body against the wall, his lips searching her own. Rachel's legs automatically got hooked on to his hips.

When things between the two got heated up, Rachel already half naked, her hands unbuckling Finn's belt, the door was banged open widely along with a male voice '_Yo, Hudson!_'

Rachel screamed with embarrassment as Finn groaned dropping his head onto Rachel's shoulder. "Fuck off, asshole!" he yelled, not bothering to turn his head in the intruder's direction.

Much to the couple's disappointment, Puck walked into the room without hesitation. He chuckled, seeing them almost having a go at it.

"Noah, get out!" hiding her boyfriend's large frame, Rachel shouted at the same time Finn yelled again, "Puck!"

The Mohawk, however, was most certainly not one to pass the opportunity to interrupt them. "Dude, the third game–, whoa, whoa, whoa!" he was cut off by the flying objects, which happened to be Rachel's shoes. He protected himself from the shoes, covering his face with his arms.

Rachel chose the moment when Puck was distracted by her shoes, slipping down from her boyfriend and quickly picking her clothes to put them on.

Finn shut his eyes close for a moment, internally summoning the footage of the mailman, which had been long time forgotten to calm Finn's Jr. Then he let out a deep, frustrated sigh, before turning around to face his best friend. "When the fuck are you gonna learn how to knock on the door?" he said petulantly, glaring at the Mohawk.

"When the fuck are you gonna learn how to lock the door, Finessa?" Puck mocked in answer.

Rachel, already fully clothed, huffed as she soothed her hair with her hands. And she roughly pushed the Mohawk's shoulder making her way over the doorway before picking her shoes up from the floor and leaving the room without a word.

"The fuck?" Puck whined, seeing her out of the room.

"Dude!" Finn yelled as he dragged the Mohawk out of the room with him. "Don't rub her the wrong way!" he warned. "_You_'ve made things go up in fucking smoke!"

"What did I–" Puck bit his tongue as he saw the taller guy shot a piercing glare at him, so he just held his hand up in the air in defeat.

Finn shook his head. He'd finally managed to get on her good side, but it could possibly come to naught. He didn't want to think that someone or something could be on her high again.

* * *

><p>Finn got bored as the game between the Broncos and Giants went on since it wasn't as exciting as he had anticipated. "Hey," he called out to the Mohawk, his eyes still on the TV screen, "why didn't you just share information about the Sugar Motta girl with Rachel?"<p>

"Where would be fun if I did?" Puck snorted. "Putting your girl back up is the most entertaining in the mother earth, it's fucking hilarious!" he chuckled, recalling the angry Rachel of the previous day in the den before adding, "and seeing your spooked reaction to her anger is the second best."

If his best friend meant that the entertaining was equal to the definition of sexy or hot, Finn would totally agree with him. Not that he wanted Puck to see Rachel a piece of meat or something.

Rachel had four different kinds of so called anger.

One; it was the frustrated-angry with herself when neither could she hit the note, convey her emotions to songs, nor get right into her role as she liked. Which was super cute and sexy as hell at the same time. It never failed to make him want to kiss her senseless.

Two; it was the angry-jealous when she witnessed Finn _accidentally_ (he swore!) laying his eyes on racks of some other girls who happened to be passing by them or when some other girls tried to flirt with him despite Rachel was right beside him. Which, of course, he resulted in eating thousands humble pies, but he internally enjoyed her jealous face to be honest. It was pretty adorable and hot too.

And angry-jealous sex was awesome! It brought her side of aggressiveness in the sack. And her giving him head? That felt. So. Fucking. Good. Had he already said that Rachel had no gag reflex? Her tongue on his tip and her full lips along with his...

Well, that was not the right point here.

Three; it was the simple anger when Finn didn't do house chores which she asked him to or scattered his clothes and shoes about their apartment. Which also he thought she looked kinda hot, but he would never ever let it appear on his face because, if he did, she raised her angry level up to the next one.

Four; it was the scary-anger when Finn did a dumb thing (mostly forced by Puck) or word-vomited. Which sometimes turned out to be the silent-anger. That was the most bloodcurdling and he sincerely hoped to never come upon.

Appendix; there was one more between Three and Four and it was when she couldn't get what she wanted. It took time for him to coax her up without pointing her out that she got irrational. His best skill to make her brain functions work correctly was very much required.

And it had been so close to the level Four when Puck had refused to share information about the Sugar girl(s).

Before Finn could retort, Burt opened his mouth. "What did you just say?"

"Berry's angry face–"

"No, it's not that," Burt cut Puck off as he turned to face his step son. "You said _Sugar Motta_? What's the matter with her?"

"You didn't know the news?" Finn asked. "About the girl named Sugar Motta? Who committed suicide?"

"What?" Burt widened his eyes surprised. He had been too pressed with work not only on weekdays but weekends until the previous day to give heed to the news other than his tire shop business and the current issues in education in the country. "She did commit suicide?"

"Did you know her?" Puck raised his eyebrow, leaning forward. "What did you know about her?" he asked.

"I didn't know much about her, but I did about her father," Burt started to inform the boys of Al Motta and his daughter, well, daughters, to be precise.

Al Motta, Texas native, had moved to the City to expand his business over twenty years before with his wife and their only child named Sugar, who had been just born. Five years later, after the success of his business expansion, he had decided to stand as a candidate for the mayor of New York City. He, however, had been compelled to withdraw from the candidacy since him having a concealed love child had been disclosed over the course of the negative campaign by the rival candidate.

"He also ended up making a fool of himself when it was revealed that his concealed love child was also named Sugar," Burt added.

"Who the hell names not only his baby Sugar but his other one the same name? He must have been pathologically obsessed with sweet substances or something," Sam chuckled.

"Maybe," Burt shrugged. "Anyway, he and his family moved back to Texas after that, and it was unfortunate to hear that he and his wife had a car accident a couple years back and left behind their child, well, children, I suppose."

"Do you happen to know what that secret love child's last name was?" Puck continued to investigate.

Burt nodded as he chugged his beer. "I do with clarity because it was an unusual last name. It was Applebee. Why?" he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

Finn shared looks with Puck.

"Okay, now tell me why you came to my apartment building the other day," Finn demanded.

Puck rubbed his Mohawk as he let out a sigh. "When we found the dead body under the bridge, well actually she was found at the riverbank with the broken rope under the bridge, there were only two belongings of the girl. Her wallet and sunglasses," he started. "Her ID in the wallet was too old and it took a few days for us to trace who she was and where she lived," he told the process.

"So, Rachel was right. The girl was Mrs. Sugar McIntosh," Finn said, more telling himself than asking his friend. "Did he confirm from identification? I mean, Biff McIntosh?"

"He will, tomorrow afternoon," Puck informed before he started losing deep in his own thought.

Sugar Motta (McIntosh), who was reportedly found dead didn't leave any suicide note. According to the autopsy, her death was due to cervical spine fracture, and the presumed time of her death was sometime between the early morning and the noon on the last Saturday, which, however, was tricky, considering of the air and water temperature of the day, her intragastric contents (including drugs), and more importantly no witnesses.

And Biff McIntosh (verified he had an alibi) thought that his wife had been out with her friends for days because she got sometimes depressed, but said that he had never imagined that his wife would have committed suicide (so, he hadn't filed a missing person report on her). Yet, the police couldn't draw a conclusion of homicide.

Finn frowned seeing the Mohawk's demeanor. "Did Rachel tell you that she had seen her in the morning of the day the girl was found dead?"

"What?" Puck shot his head up to see the tallest guy, "What time?"

"Um," Finn scratched the back of his head, "I don't know exactly but she saw her on the way to walk Rusty," he said. "Rachel said that the girl hadn't looked like a person who would commit suicide. And Sugar asked her to teach how to bake and stuff in the afternoon. Well, apparently she stood her up though," he shrugged.

"I must have a talk with Berry either way, huh?" Puck scrunched his nose. "Alright, then tell her to come by the station tomorrow."

"I'll come too," Finn announced. "What time should we come?"

"Before Biff McIntosh coming would be appreciated," Puck requested. "How about 10?"

While Finn and Puck were discussing the time, Sam started to put Finn's cell phone, the battery, SIM card and SD card together. "I think you should go to the Apple store after that," Sam said, handing the phone out to Finn. "Some data seem to be saved, but it should get checked. You perhaps need a new one."

"Um, thanks," Finn said as he examined his damaged cell phone. He let out a sigh, realizing that there was only one text left that he could read. The Penny Owen's of all texts. Then he widened his eyes as he started to read it.

What the fuck?

He would've never agreed with Mrs. Penkala's suggestion if he had known that Penny could be this crazy.

Puck leaned closer to Finn to peek into the screen of his phone. "Who's Penelope? Does she have big tits?"

"She's our school nurse, and yeah, 'big' is an understatement," Finn said absent-mindedly as he scrolled the screen to figure out how damaged his phone was.

Puck chuckled. "You finally realized how boring visually and tactually having sex with small boobs is? And decided to dump Berry and chase after huge ones?" he patted Finn on the shoulder. "I'm proud of you, Maverick, I really am," he smirked.

"I didn't know that he liked big boobs, man," Sam chimed in. "I thought he was an ass man instead, judging by his track record of women, you know, either Jenny or Rachel, or Quinn for that matter, don't have big tits," he pointed out.

"Dude, Finny D just had a fling with Q as his rebound after Jenny the bitch atrociously dumped him," Puck bluffed with a smug face. He knew that when all three boys in high school they had had a small crush on Quinn who had been dating with the head of the student council at that time, and Finn and Quinn had kissed once in high school. The time Puck had succeeded in persuading her to date him was way long after that.

"No shit! A fling?" Sam arched his eyebrow before turning his head to face Finn. "You didn't tell me that you'd banged Q too!" he nudged Finn's shoulder roughly.

"What?" he shot up his head, looking at the blonde guy with a frown. "What are you talking about? I haven't banged her, ever!" he shook Sam's hand off of him. "We just kissed, once in high school! That's it! Besides, _she_ initiated!" he raised his voice. "And I know you've kissed her too!"

"The fuck?" Puck cried, "you never told–, whoa, wait a sec, what did you mean by 'too,' not the kiss part, but the bang part, fucking Biebster?"

Burt rolled his eyes as he saw the three childish grown-ups bickering each other. He shook his head and was about to flee from the kindergarten, only to find Rachel standing in the living room doorway, holding the dog nervously. "Rachel…"

Finn snapped out at his step father's calling his girlfriend's name before turning his head to look at her in horror. He could see her face almost crumble. Since when she was standing there? Not that he could remember most of the conversation other than Quinn since he had been too preoccupied with checking his phone to listen to it between his friends.

Rachel played with the hem of her skirt with the fingers of her empty hand and cleared her throat. "I'm going to leave now," she announced calmly. "But you," she glared at her boyfriend, "should stay here for the time being, Finn."

"W-what?" Finn asked fidgeted, his ass cemented on the sofa. "A-are you kicking me out of my apartment?" he choked, unaware that he had just word-vomited.

"Uh-oh," Sam murmured under his breath, averting his eyes away from the couple, while Puck was grinning with satisfactory, leaning back further into the sofa, his arms behind his head, fully preparing himself to have fun to watch some live comedy show in front of his eyes instead of paying his attention to the game on TV.

Rachel widened her eyes. She tried to pull herself together, tucking a pile of her hair behind her ear, the other hand gripping Rusty tightly. "Right, _your_ apartment," she quietly repeated, her biting her bottom lips, her eyes casting down. "Then," she looked up at Finn, "I'll be staying out so you can have your apartment all you want." With that, Rachel sprinted to the downstairs to pack her things for leaving the Upper East Side apartment.

What had just happened? What did he just say?

It took a while for him to understand what had happened and what he had said to her. By the time he came to grasp the situation, however, his girlfriend snuck out of his parents' apartment with Rusty and Ms. Bonaparte.

Oh man. He fucked up!

Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck!

This was the level Four. No. Beyond the level Four.

He needed a huge damage control.

Before it could be past recalling.

* * *

><p><strong>Please review :)<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and for the kind responses!**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Glee and its characters, and any resemblance to real persons or organizations is purely coincidental.**

* * *

><p><strong>Friday, November <strong>**27, 2015**

Rachel couldn't sleep, she couldn't help but chew the cud of the series of events on the previous day at the Hudson-Hummel apartment.

It had been a while since she had to go to bed alone. Finn was like her sleeping pillow. Though he complained that she was a terrible bed hog, his presence in the same bed gave her a feeling of peace and safe. She used to sleep alone for so long before she met Finn. But having gotten used to be with him in the same bed, she had restless nights without him.

So, instead of having her beauty sleep with effort, she was overlooking the early morning city from the room on the 17th floor at Park Hyatt, where she had checked in with Finn's credit card which she had stolen from his wallet when she had left his parents' apartment.

Luckily or unluckily, somehow, the creepy Jefrow named Jacob Ben Israel, who had changed his waiter job at a restaurant to a front clerk at Park Hyatt all of the places, willingly accepted Finn's credit card in exchange for her phone number (Ew. She should get a new number once she would check out, Rachel thought).

What? Who wanted to pay a room rate of more than 1,000 dollars for a night? Of course, Rachel didn't. Finn should! It was a kind of retribution. Her itty bitty reprisal!

Anyway.

Finn's comment on Penny Owen's chest aside, Rachel had no worries about his feelings for the girl. She didn't think that he had lied about his no interests in her. Having said that, it would be highly possible that Penelope would cause them trouble. Which meant that Rachel needed to come up with something to get rid of her out of Hudson-Berry's life.

Sending her to crack house was out of the question because here was New York City, not Lima, Ohio—Rachel once in high school, since she had felt threatened by her singing talent, she had sent a new student to a local crack house, which was an inactive, she swore! If she did the same thing in the City, she possibly should get involved in some crime and arrested for the aiding and abetting in it.

Hence, she was going to stick to employing standard tactics, like, covering incriminating evidences that Penelope had hustled Finn's number and email address (she was exhibiting stalking behavior, wasn't she?), so that she could let her quit Finn's school or send her to another school (out of the state, of course), right?

That was, however, not a pressing issue here. Besides, she'd better play cat and mouth with Penny for the time being because the more time would pass the more evidences she could get to catch the girl out in stalking.

His use of the word 'his' upon 'their' apartment was not an urgent issue either, though she got hurt more than a little to be honest. She knew that he made wrong choices of words without thinking, like _a lot_, when he got nervous or panic or tried to mend something _too hard_. So, she let him off the hook on this too. Not that it meant that he wouldn't have to make it up to her, though.

What was bothering her the most was the facts that Finn and Quinn had shared a kiss and he had kept it from her.

Rachel had told him everything. Every tiny little thing. About her past relationships or love interests for that matter. From her first crush in kindergarten and her first kiss (it was just a peck, more precisely) in elementary school, to the details of her relationship with Jesse St. James, which understandably Finn hadn't been thrilled with listening to though.

As for Finn's, she thought that he had told her everything like she him. Apparently he hadn't, though he'd told her about his crush on a comic book female character like _Elektra_ (who had big boobs, of course! But hey, where the hell were heroines with small boobs in comic books?) which, as anticipated, had led him to have a celebrity crush on _Jennifer Garner_ (so there had been a certain period of time that Finn had nursed a grudge on _Ben Affleck_), or even tried to recall his every drunken night with the girls in collage as much as possible. She had been very much appreciated that.

Rachel wandered into the bathroom. She sighed as she was looking at herself in the mirror. She had thought that she had overcome her insecurities about appearances throughout the years. Those insecurities, however, unexpectedly popped up at times. It was like she was born with unexploded ordnances in her body.

She knew what Jenny looked like because she had met her once. And what Quinn looked like too. Both had a perfect figure for girls to die for. So beautiful. And blonde. Not that she was going to mark grades, which hair color was better on girls like guys tended to. Nonetheless, she was not going to dwell on it, even though a part of her wanted to scream in order to get one of her buried mines out of her body.

Finn would say to her that she was beautiful, he loved the way she was, more often than not. Sometimes she wanted to cry when he told her those things because she couldn't help but think of herself as the luckiest girl in the world being loved by such a guy like him. A sweet, caring, and handsome guy that every girl would ever dream of.

However, there were times when she felt uneasy, especially when some pretty girls ignored her presence and blatantly flirt with him. Finn was really a nice guy, but sometimes could be, well, thick. It took a lot for him to show them his annoyance, although Rachel hardly witnessed him showing it, much to her disappointment.

One day, about their reconciliation, she couldn't deal with that kind of things, though she would try her hardest not to be a needy, clingy girlfriend. She had exploded at her boyfriend who had flirted back with some blonde bimbo in the middle of their date (on Valentine's day, for God's sake!) at a restaurant. How insensitive he could be, how miserable she had felt being the one to play the third wheel.

Of course, he had made an excuse, like, _'I didn't flirt back with her! I just smiled, was being nice to her!'_ But did you know what his facial expression had been while she'd been yelling at him? He'd been throwing his signature lopsided grin at her throughout her explosion! Uugghh!

Yet, she had gotten over it. Because, after the fight, he had finally admitted that he had felt that he was the one who always got more jealous; she was surrounded by so many talented and good looking guys, and he sometimes was scared of her realizing that he was not good enough for her. That was the moment when she had opened her eyes that Finn had his own insecurities as well.

And lovemaking after sharing their insecurities? That had been so romantic and sensual at the same time. His large calloused hands all over her body had felt so _so_ good. He usually was adorably clumsy, but those hands got transformed into magical ones when it came to playing his drums _and _her body…

Okay, that was not the point here either.

The thing was, he had kept the kiss with Quinn from her for a long time! Why had he done that? How had they ended up kissing? Was that really one kiss? Was there more story to be told behind the kiss?

Rachel let out a sigh and looked down at the floor as Rusty nudged her left foot with his nose asking her to take him out for a walk.

"Alright, alright. Give me a minute to change my clothes," Rachel picked him up and gave him a big kiss on his forehead.

* * *

><p>Kurt walked into the living room of Hudson-Berry household as he scrunched his nose in distaste, seeing many beer bottles scattering on the coffee table and the three morons spreading their bodies on the sofa.<p>

The previous night was an utter mess. Especially after Rachel had left. Because, she was not the only one to have overheard the conversation between the idiots.

_Furious Quinn grabbed the collar of her husband, dragging him into the dining room while Carole and Burt evacuated her children to the upstairs and Finn chased after his girlfriend outside._

"_You really are stupid! I don't care you talk about other girls' boobs or your 'imaginary' women who you've been claiming you hit. I don't care you jerk off with _Sport Illustrated Swim Suits Issues_ or _Hustler TV_ either. But talking about me as if I was some kind of whore? That's unacceptable!" Quinn hysterically growled._

"_I just pointed out how fuckable you were," Puck reasoned plausibly in a defensive posture. "You should be proud of yourself being the hottest girl in the world who every man would want to tap."_

_Now Quinn got livid. "Are you even aware that you're thirty with two children? Why so crude and juvenile? Oh God," she buried her face in her hands, "I feel like I'm such an idiot, got pregnant and married with this biggest asshole." Frustrated, she threw her hands in the air before glaring at her husband, gritting her teeth, her hands into balls beside her body. "Don't come home unless you're grown up!" With that, she walked away from him towards the upstairs._

"_Chicks are always beefing about their men not making them desirable and shit, but once we do as we're told they find fault with everything we talk," Puck mumbled, rubbing his Mohawk, trying to save his own ass._

_Sam chuckled, seeing the Mohawk daunted from afar as though it had nothing to do with him._

_Mercedes rolled her eyes. Her fiancé was really a nincompoop. Plus, how dare he not tell her about the relationship with Quinn? She approached and stood in front of him, her arms across her chest._

_Sam looked up at his fiancée from the sofa, still chuckling. "Obviously Quinn is the one to wear the pants in the Puckerman's, don't you think? Puck's always claiming he rules his wife."_

_It was too late for Sam to see what was coming._

_Mercedes shut her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. "When you come to your senses," she opened her eyes to look into Sam's eyes with a stern face, "you can come home," she announced. Then she picked up her stuff from the dining table and left the apartment._

That was how Puck and Sam ended up staying overnight at the Hudson - Berry apartment.

As for Finn, having tried in vain to catch up with Rachel, he had rung like a madman everybody and anybody who could come to his mind from his house phone the previous night the second they had gotten home. Yet, he had failed to find his girlfriend's whereabouts and gotten flustered, pacing around the apartment.

It had been until he found that she had snuck his credit card out of his wallet. Claiming that she was being overreacting, he had joined the other boys in the sulking party, getting drunk, playing stupid video games.

Now here they were.

Kurt looked at the children in around thirty frame.

While he thought that the girls were being overreacting a bit as well, he had to agree with them getting disgusted with the boys. See? It was until he finished cleaning the mess up in the living room _and_ preparing the breakfast that they finally woke up. Boys were helpless and useless.

He shook his head, placing the dishes for the three on the kitchen counter.

"Did you get hold of her?" Finn asked as he walked into the kitchen, yawning and slipping his hand under his shirt of the previous night to scratch. He grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and turned to face his step brother.

"I tried, but her phone goes straight to voicemail," Kurt answered as he handed a coffee mug out to Finn. "She brought your flexible friend with her, didn't she? Why don't you ask him to track its application status? You may find where she is," Kurt suggested, nodding towards the Mohawk who was approaching the kitchen sluggishly, Sam in tow.

Finn's eyes lit up at his brother's suggestion. "You're a genius!" he hugged him with one arm.

Kurt flinched. "You smell criminally awful," he shook Finn's arm off, shuddering at the very thought of which he might spend days with them in the same apartment, before looking over the three. "You two as well. All of you, no shower, no tooth brush, and tons of alcohol from last night. Get busy eating, take a shower, and groom yourselves as soon as possible, _please_."

Kurt rolled his eyes, seeing the boys already hastily stuffing their breakfast into their mouth directly from the plates with no use of any utensils.

Thank Gucci, he was born gay.

* * *

><p>After having given the dog enough exercise in the Central Park dog run, Rachel strode back into the hotel with Rusty, who started to growl seeing someone or something he disliked. She looked down at him. "Rusty, what's wrong with you?" she frowned, tugging the leash.<p>

"Rachel!" the familiar voice came from behind.

Rachel whirled around, widening her eyes, to find her ex-boyfriend running towards her. "Jesse! What're you doing here?" she asked as she bent down to calm her dog, who was snarling at the curly haired guy with undisguised hostility. She wondered why Jesse was here because he had gotten a role in a TV drama and moved to LA over a year before (Needless to say, Finn had gotten blown out on the news).

Jesse narrowed his eyes at the dog before his eyes shifted to Rachel. He cleared his throat. "I'm staying here," he announced.

"For what?" Rachel asked as she scooped the dog off the floor.

"I have a couple of talk shows to be on, you know, to promote _Ghostsinger_ second season," Jesse informed before shrinking back at Rusty's yapping. "Uh, you're staying here too?" he saw Rachel nodding. "Then why don't you leave him in the room and join me for breakfast?" he tried to eliminate the hindrance to him in a casual way. "I mean, did you have breakfast? It's been a long time since we spent time together," he reasoned.

"Um, okay," Rachel agreed, knowing all too well that Finn wouldn't like if he knew that she accepted his invitation. But Jesse was not only her ex, but old friend as well. Besides, it was not like she would be with him alone in a locked room. One breakfast. With her old friend. In a public place. That was it. "Where were you going to have it?" she asked as she was about to walk away.

"_The Living Room_," Jesse said. "I'll wait for you there."

Rachel nodded. "I'll be in ten minutes," she replied over her shoulder.

Due to Rusty's strong resistance to her being alone with Jesse, Rachel entered _The Living Room_ twenty minutes later, massaging her temple with a hand. She saw Jesse signaling with a waving hand, sitting on the couch by the windows. When she approached him, he stood up and circled the table, nodding to the couch for her to take before he perched himself on the chair across.

Throughout having breakfast, Jesse talked her ear off about his TV show, but Rachel didn't care. It was a kind of welcome distraction, for her to push her thoughts of Finn and Quinn aside. Although she hadn't been listening to half of his story. Even she charged their breakfast to her room while Jesse continued talking.

"Why don't you come visit me in LA? I could introduce you to TV producers," Jesse tried to get her attention.

"Huh?" Rachel looked up at him through her tea cup. "I'm not a Hollywood actress. Besides, I still have a lot of roles that I want to play on Broadway," she declined.

"Why? You could be a TV star, or movie star for that matter," Jesse pushed.

Rachel shook her head. "Jesse, I'm not pretty enough for movies or TV shows," she answered, trying to sound nonchalant, playing with the rim of her tea cup.

"You're pretty enough for them," Jesse placed his hand on her own. "You're the most talented that I've ever known," he squeezed her hand. "Is that because of Hudson? You're still with him," he examined her face.

Truth be told, her agent told her a few months ago that she had gotten some offers from TV shows filming in LA. Rachel, however, wasn't interested in it. Yes, Finn was one of the reasons. But it was the truth that she had a lot of roles to dream of playing on Broadway.

"Yes, I'm with Finn," Rachel continued to sip her tea. "Why are you looking at me like that?" she frowned, seeing him narrow his eyes incredulously.

"Then why are you staying here? Alone?" Jesse pressed.

"Oh," Rachel's face fell a little, but soon she pulled herself together. "Finn surprised me, giving a spa day here. You know, how stressed I can be," she lied, hoping that Jesse would buy it.

"With your dog?" Jesse arched his eyebrow.

"Um," fidgeted, Rachel shifted on the couch, biting her bottom lip. "Finn's having a guys' day in our place today. And Noah, one of his best friends? Rusty doesn't like him because he isn't nice to animals. So I had to take him out with me," she managed to smooth over.

"Alright, I'll leave it at that," Jesse shrugged. "But I still care about you, you know that right?" he said sweetly. "Don't hesitate to talk to me, Rachel."

"Thank you, Jesse," Rachel gave him a tight smile. "Do you have somewhere to be today?" she changed the subject.

Jesse glanced at the time on his wrist. "I'll be stopping by the agent office for my suits fitting in the afternoon," he answered, leaning further against the back of his chair.

At the very moment, something, no, someone familiar caught Rachel's eyes. She gasped. "Jesse," she said in a hushed tone, "let's get out of here," she abruptly got out of the couch as her gaze followed the familiar figure making its way over to the diner exit. She gestured for Jesse to be quiet too with her forefinger on her lips.

Confused, Jesse made a face. "Rachel, wh–"

"Shhhhh!" Whisper-shouting, Rachel cut him off before grabbing Jesse's arm, dragging him into the indoor plant nearby the exit for them to hide from something.

"What're you doing? Why do we have to lurk here?" Jesse said in a hushed tone, looking down at her before roving around the diner. "I didn't see any paparazzi here–"

"Shush!" Rachel forced him to bend over before whispering in his ear. "Can you see that girl on sunglasses?" Rachel pointed to the blonde girl wearing a Chanel suit. "I'm sure she's Sugar, Sugar McIntosh or Applebee or whatever," she said, never tearing her eyes away from the girl.

"What are you talking about?"

"It's a long story, no time to explain right now. But I have to follow her," Rachel pulled his arm, determined to follow the Sugar girl till the end of the world.

* * *

><p>Five cab drivers' ignoring Finn later, he hastily ran to the 23rd St. Station. Once he climbed up the stairs of the 57 St., he rushed in the Park Hyatt's direction.<p>

Finn had managed to persuade reluctant Puck to use the police tracking system on his cell phone, claiming that the Mohawk couldn't have a talk with Rachel for the Sugar Motta girl's case unless he would cooperate.

Due to his big appetite and recent lack of exercise, Finn panted in front of Calvary Baptist Church, his hands on his knees. Still bending over, finally he caught his breath and looked up in the direction he had to head for.

That was the moment Finn's eyes caught his girlfriend tiny figure emerging out of the hotel. He straightened up to make his way over towards her before something stopped him.

He widened his eyes.

He saw Rachel about to walk down the street. With Jesse. Linking her arm with the douche's. As if they avoided getting people's attention.

What the fuck!?

Why the hell was he doing here with Rachel? Had she called him to stay at the night with her? At the hotel? No, no, no. That was not possible. He didn't want to think like that. But judging by Finn's past experiences with the Jackass, it would be highly possible that the scumbag was going to come between him and Rachel, _again_! Why did she still stay a friend with the asshole?

Finn felt rage and jealousy gushing out of his whole body. Clenching his hands, gritting his teeth. Then he strode his way over towards them, determined to throw a punch or two or three in the douche's face _and_ scoop his girlfriend up carrying her to the hotel room to fuck her brains out until she would engrave whom she belonged to on every inch of her body, totally oblivious to the necessity for him to tell her the kiss with Quinn.

Breathing heavily, Finn got closer and closer to them.

When he went past by the entrance of the hotel and was about to call out her name, two arms trying to wrap around his one arm from behind startled him.

Finn jumped back and looked down at the arms tangling with his arm. Then his eyes shifted up to a person whom those arms belonged to. "M-M-Ms. Owen?" he choked.

"Finny, call me Penny, or Penelope, please," Penny mischievously grinned at him. "What a coincidence!" she cheerfully said. "I've been trying to reach you. Why didn't you answer the phone?" she asked in a coaxing voice, gripping his arm tightly to her both arms. Little did Finn know that Penny had been following him from his apartment.

"Um, m-my phone was broken," Finn answered absent-mindedly as he shifted his eyes in the direction where Rachel's and Jesse's frames were getting smaller. "And," he glanced at Penny before looking back in his girlfriend's direction. "I-I-I'm a bit up at the moment. I, uh, will call you when I get a new phone," he tried to shake her arms off of his own to walk away from her.

"Oh, I've got plenty of time, Finny. So I can come with you!" Penny snuggled into him persistently.

No, no, no. This was not happening right now. Finn shut his eyes, thinking his hardest to get out of this situation.

"Finny!" Penny loudly called out, trying to get his attention. Which did get not only his attention, but also Rachel's and Jesse's ones.

Finn groaned. He saw Rachel span around to eye in the direction the voice calling his name had come. He could tell, her big eyes were getting bigger to look at him _and_ Penny Owen.

Rachel seemed to hesitate walking back towards the hotel. She looked back at the crossroad of the W 57th St. and Broadway for a second. Then she turned her head to see Finn again and whispered something in Jesse's ear before walking back in the direction where Finn and Penny were standing.

"What are you doing here? With her?" Rachel bluntly said, folding her arms across her chest, throwing a dirty glare at Penny's arms linking with Finn's. Jesse, standing behind Rachel, chuckled mockingly.

Trying to suppress the urges to throw a fit in Jesse's smugly face, Finn breathed deeply before opening his mouth. "What're are you doing here with him?" he petulantly asked in answer. "And I'm not with her," he finally managed to whisk off Penny's arms from his.

"Why are you being so aloof?" pouting, Penny said in a sugary voice, poking her forefinger to Finn's arm playfully, failing to notice that Finn was faltering at her behavior.

Rachel was sure that she was going to throw up if the girl kept talking to her boyfriend like that. "Hello, you must be Penelope," ignoring Finn's question, she fake smiled as she turned to face her, mentally gagging. "It's nice to finally meet you. I'm _Rachel_. _Finn's girlfriend_. I'm sure we did talk on the phone yesterday," she held her hand out for the girl to shake.

Penny ignored Rachel's hand as she looked at her up and down with her measure before turning to look up at Finn. "I thought that your girlfriend was Rafaela or Rebecca, Finny," she soothed his arm flirtatiously with a hand.

"It's _**RACHEL**_!"

"It's _Rachel_!"

Finn and Rachel cried in unison.

Jesse laughed, tipping his head backward. "Well, this is intriguing," he stepped forward to stand next to Rachel and look down at her. "Are you sure you're not interested in coming with me to LA?" he said, patting her shoulder before glancing at the time. "Well, when you get interested in what I said, ring me, Rachel. I'll be staying here until next week," with that, Jesse walked away in the other direction from the hotel with a waving hand.

Finn narrowed his eyes at the back of the douche walking over towards the Fifth Avenue. But the reason why Rachel had been with Jesse could wait. He stepped back from Penny and grabbed Rachel's hand in his. "We need to talk," he said, trying to drag her back into the hotel. "Goodbye, Ms. Owen," he called over his shoulder.

"Can I join you guys?" Penny didn't give up, trying to follow the two of them.

"No!"

"No!"

Finn and Rachel vetoed in unison.

Penny came to a halt, her arms across her chest. "I've got much bigger boobs than her," she murmured, looking down at her own breasts. "Well, I should take it up a notch to get him," with that, she walked away from the hotel with an evil grin.

Finn let out a relieved sigh as he saw Penny give up following them. However, he knew that it would be short lived.

They had a lot to clear and talk about right now.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **_**Ghostsinger**_** is totally a fictional TV show in this fictional story.**

**I hope you guys all will have a Happy Valentine's Day!**

**Please review :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Thank you for reading my story and for the responses! November 27 in this story is going to be a long day for Rachel, Finn, and for you guys as well! This chapter is part 2 of the day. And obviously, part 3 is coming in the next chapter.**

**Disclaimer; I do not own Glee and its characters, and any resemblance to real persons or organizations is purely coincidental.**

* * *

><p><strong>Friday, November <strong>**27, 2015 Part II**

Rachel had a reason, a certain reason that she had chosen to walk back to the hotel instead of following Sugar. She believed that it would be a better idea than chasing after her, or having a talk about whatever Finn wanted to with her (well, it was as plain as day, though). Those were not all that important right now, at least to her. She had to work on her new operation right away. By the time that Sugar returned to the hotel.

"Finn, wait," Rachel stopped her boyfriend from taking her into the elevator, looking see the school nurse already out of her sight over her shoulder. Then she pulled his hand in the other direction.

Looking down at his girlfriend with a frown, Finn tried to pull her hand back into him. "What are you doing? We have, you know, something to talk about."

"You do. I don't," Rachel replied nonchalantly. "You can walk a talk," she hauled his arm towards the hotel entrance.

Man, she had quite arms for her tiny figure. "I do believe you have something to talk about too," he grumbled under his breath. "Where are we going anyway? I wanted to talk to you in private," he said, letting her continue pulling him nonetheless.

"I need new lingerie," Rachel announced, looking over the street to once again make sure that Penelope had really gone. "So we are going to Victoria's Secret, which is not so far from here."

"Y-you do?" a funny noise slipped from Finn's mouth.

"Hmm-hmm," Rachel smiled up at him smugly.

_Well, that's an interesting development._ Finn thought. He licked his lips expectantly

"I'll even let you pick something for me," she snuggled into his side before looking up at him through her eyelashes. "What'd you think?"

Now Finn's thoughts were going a million miles a minute.

Rachel had been supposed to be angry at him. Angry at his word-vomit, angry-jealous at the kiss with Quinn, and jealous at Penny too, maybe? But now she wanted to go shopping for new lingerie instead of discussing those things? Why? Did that mean that she wanted to have angry-jealous sex? In, by any chance, a fitting room at Victoria's Secret?

Hmm, he could handle _that_.

"You should watch out, you know, Penelope is showing her stalkish nature. I presume that she's been following you this morning," Rachel kept talking despite she had told him that he was the one to talk, turning her head to look at the people walking behind them. Then her gaze shifted to her boyfriend who still was a million miles away. "She is kind of a loose cannon," she shuddered for no reasons. "As for Jesse, you don't need to worry about him. I've just encountered him this morning," she assured him, "he said he came to the City to be on some talk shows."

"What?" Finn snapped out by hearing the abrasive name. "But he asked you to come with him to LA," he murmured, pulling her much closer into him protectively.

"Finn, I love _you_, you know that. And I'm _not_ interested in him or visiting him there," Rachel punctuated, intertwining her fingers with his. "You would know, your getting jealous would only delight him."

"I love you too," Finn placed his lips on her hair before murmuring. "But I'm not jealous," he retorted, trying to sound nonchalantly.

"Yeah, right," Rachel rolled her eyes. "Anyway, we're here," she came to a halt in front of the store at Madison Avenue and East 57th Street. "I want you to pick a pair of panties, not so sexy, but a fascinating one, you know, like stirring guys' imagination. Got it?"

"Huh?" Confused, a frown marred his face. "What do you mean? No thongs?"

"Uh-uh. No thongs," Rachel shook her head.

"But those look perfect on your butt," Finn tried to point out.

"I'm not always wearing thongs or G-strings," Rachel protested. "I want you to pick something that I ordinarily wear," she pursed her lips for a second. "Like Cheekies. But not briefs. Okay?" she led him to the floor where was displaying tons of panties. "I'm going to look for yoga pants or PJs," she said over her shoulder, leaving Finn alone in the panties section.

Now Finn was really confused. Besides, what were Cheekies? Did that mean garters or something? And when did she wear briefs? He only saw her wearing thongs (weren't those the same as G-strings?), normal panties (ones half covering her ass were normal?).

Finn started to take one by one in his hands anyway.

_Hmm, this would look awesome on her ass._ Finn thought, picking a G-string, completely forgetting what Rachel had instructed. He examined pale pink gold color with black lace one with a grin like an idiot. Then he picked another G-string, rose colored floral lace one, the previous one still in his other hand.

"How can I help you?" a sales assistant girl called out behind him.

Finn spun around to face the assistant, the G-strings in his both hands. "Uh, I, um, am looking for Cheekies? I don't know what those are though," he felt his face going red.

"Those are not Cheekies, but G-strings, we call V-strings here though," Giggling, the assistant gestured to the undies in Finn's hands. "But excellent choice. For your girlfriend?"

Finn nervously nodded. "Uh, yeah," he scratched his head. "I want to buy her those kinds of undergarments, but she asked me to pick Cheekies somehow."

"Well, Cheekies are over there," the assistant walked over to the opposite isle. "Cheekies are cheeky panties. See?" she took one of them from the display shelf to show him. "A little peek around backside."

"Ah," Finn circled the display shelf to approach the assistant and study the cheeky panty which the assistant had held in her hands.

Now he remembered Rachel had worn those kinds of panties more often than not. Not that bad. Actually, very hot. Especially lace ones. He took purple one with front and back bows before starting daydreaming as to what these would look like on Rachel's springy ass.

"You really have a good taste in women's undergarments," the assistant complimented, placing her hand on his arm.

"Ahem," Rachel cleared her throat from behind to get her boyfriend's and the flirtatious assistant's attention. "Finn, I told you to pick up something that I usually wore," she demanded, her arms across her chest, before facing the assistant. "I'll take care of it from here," she gave her a fake smile.

Seeing the assistant reluctantly walking away from them out of the corner of her eye, Rachel gestured to the three pairs of panties in Finn's hands. "Those are not ones that I wanted you to choose," she scolded as she took a cotton cheeky panty, which was trimmed at waist and legs by purple lace. "I said," she held them up in front of face, "like this one."

"Well, that's awesome too, but I think the panties I picked for you look hotter on your butt," Finn snuck behind her, starting kissing her neck. "Aren't you giving me your marshmallows? That's why you brought me here with you?" he whispered in her ear, his one hand squeezing one of her butt cheeks. "Or I don't mind just eating your gummy bear in a fitting room?"

He was such a dork sometimes. He named her boobs marshmallows, and the phrase 'giving him her marshmallows' was his way of connotation 'having sex.' And gummy bear? He also named her private parts her favorite fruit candy product and it sometimes meant 'oral sex.'

"Finn!" Rachel whirled around in his arms, blushing furiously despite herself. "We're in a public place!" she hissed. "You know, the sales assistants here have an eye like a hawk. I don't want to be banned from Victoria's Secret stores. So don't try to do such a thing!" she admonished.

It was true that the assistants kept a very close eye on the dressing rooms. Rachel had heard that from Santana, one of her best friends, who had witnessed so many times that every one of guys in an attempt to sneak into the dressing rooms where their partners were trying on undies had been dragged out by securities mercilessly while she had succeeded in making out with Brittany there.

"That's kinda watching paint dry," Pouting, Finn mumbled.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "What made you think that I wanted to give you my marshmallows, or gummy bear for that matter, although you've not explained _the thing_ between you and Quinn yet?"

There she went. "It was just one kiss! In high school!" Finn held his hands up in the air. "_You_ kiss Figo or Fago or whatever every night!" he raised his voice.

"It's Fiyero," Rachel amended. "And that's acting!" she dragged him into the corner of the store. "And keep your voice down!" she whisper-shouted, looking over the store restlessly. She didn't want to make a scene in the public place. Although she was painted green on all her face on stage, she got more and more recognized in the streets as the show went on.

Finn murmured incoherently. Rachel was an actress and he knew that was not the point here. Yet, he would be lying if he said he wouldn't mind her kissing someone else, even on stage.

Rachel let out a sigh. "If this makes you feel better, Thad is gay, Finn," she placed her hand on his arm. "But that's not the point and this is just between you and me, okay? He's closeted," she informed in a low voice. "And would you please accept that I'm an actress and I'll have to make out with actors who are straight too in the future?"

Finn stared at his own feet, running a hand through his hair. Then he just nodded.

"Okay, then think about why I'm mad at you while I'm trying these yoga pants on in the fitting room," with that, Rachel made her way over the dressing area.

* * *

><p>Even though Rachel had demanded that he should pick up a pair of panties that she usually wore, Finn decided to buy some G-strings in addition to the cheeky panty she had handed out to him, <em>and<em> sneak into the dressing room (of course, to have a talk in private. What did you think, huh?)!

He waited for few minutes in the panties section after his girlfriend had headed for the dressing area before acting casually, like, pretending to look around and wander in the store, stepping closer and closer to his determined direction.

What Finn hadn't noticed was there was another person who acted sneaky like him, bellying up to the same area in the store, its intense eyes firmly on every move he was making.

And when he was about to take his final step to the entrance of the dressing area, the person suddenly grasped his hand holding the three pairs of panties from behind.

"UUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHH," too startled, Finn fell on his backside in an attempt to whirl around, and it caused the person who had grabbed his hand to fall on top of him.

"M-M-M-Ms. O-O-Owen?" his voice squeaked. "Wh-what, what're you d-d-doing here?" he stammered as he tried to get Penny out of the way for him to pick himself up.

However, Penny flatly resisted his attempting hands. To make matters worse to Finn, she stretched her arms towards his neck to wrap, which made him miserably fail to move her from his body.

"I _knew_ you knew my favorites," Penny glanced down at the undies in his hands before turning her face to look down at him and moving it closer to his.

Fuck! His girlfriend was right. Penny was a loose cannon. No. Rachel had put it mildly. This girl was fucking psycho!

Finn tried his hardest to turn his face away from hers, thrashing his arms and legs in vain. His lips were merely quivering and his heart beats were pounding loudly by her appalling demeanors. Her sudden appearance creeped him out as fucking hell!

He wanted to scream 'help.' He really did. Yet, no sounds came from them because her death grip was compressing his neck and her big boobs were crushing his lungs. So, he moved his eyeballs restlessly to send an SOS for someone, anyone to help him out of the creepy school nurse.

While the other customers were throwing dirty looks down at them in disgust as they passed by in the crowded store, much to his relief, his desperate eyes caught ones of the sales assistants' who happened to have taught him as to what Cheekies were a little while before.

For his dear life, he mouthed 'help' and 'security' to her, pointing to the school nurse on top of him.

Thanks to the brief encounter with his girlfriend—or, nobody knew, for the assistant, only to want to eliminate one of her enemies against her boyfriend-to-be list—something seemed to ring a bell to her as Finn's expression caught her eyes. Finn saw her beckon the securities and give them a quick instruction to take the girl on top of Finn out of the store.

"I'm his girlfriend!" Penelope cried as the securities pulled her away from Finn.

"S-she's _**not**_!" Finn cried out from the floor, coughing.

The sales assistant shook her head to the large men sandwiching Penny, signaling that the girl was not as Finn had told.

Before the securities completely could kick Penelope out, the people in the store got into an uproar and the customers in the dressing rooms started to stick their heads out of the doors.

"Finny! Finny!" Penny's voice rang hollow in the store as she was forced to get out of the store.

"T-thanks," still coughing, Finn said to the assistant with relief, finally getting to his feet from the floor.

"It's my job," the assistant said, gently brushing dust off from Finn's clothes. "Being an attractive guy like you has a hard time sometimes, huh?" she winked at him and squeezed his arm. "I'm Amy, by the way," she fished her card out of her pocket, "feel free to contact me if you need any further assistance," she thrust it into his hand before walking away from him to report what had happened to her boss.

"Uh, thanks," Finn unconsciously put her card into his jeans pocket.

Not that Finn had understood what the assistant's intention was since he saw Rachel also poking her head through one of the fitting room doors. Her figure gave him much more relief and made his face form into a smile.

He needed to hold her, feel her in his arms right now.

To erase his nightmare in the daylight.

He shuddered, thinking about what had just happened to him.

He saw Rachel mouthing 'what's going on?' with a worried look at him. He gestured for her to be back into her dressing room with a waving hand and then he looked back over the store. There was still in a little hubbub. The sales assistants were gathering and discussing something (maybe how to deal with customers like Penelope).

Wait.

This was a once-in-a-life-time opportunity, wasn't it?

Now Finn knew where Rachel was in. Everyone in the store was distracted what had just happened.

Determined to sneak into Rachel's dressing room, Finn looked over the store once again.

He was going to feel her in his arms.

With or without her marshmallows (or gummy bear).

* * *

><p>Rachel jumped startled when Finn snuck into the fitting room where she was taking off the yoga pants that she had tried on. "Finn!" she whisper-shouted, "you're not supposed to be here!"<p>

Without a single word, Finn stretched his arms to pull her into him.

He hands on his chest, Rachel let him do whatever he wanted to for a moment despite she felt embarrassed since the lower half of her body was only in her panty. "Are you okay?" A few minutes later, she finally opened her mouth.

"I feel better now," Finn murmured against her hair.

"What happened over there?" Rachel asked.

"Penny Owen happened," Finn sighed before he led them to the corner of the room before sitting on a low stool and pulling her to sit on his lap.

"She followed you? Us?" Rachel gasped, scandalized. "I knew it, I knew it!" she hissed. "I got the feeling!"

"I guess she did, yeah," Finn rested his head against her chest, rubbing her smooth skin of the thigh. "You were right, Rach. She's a bad news," he started to fill her in on what had happened while she had been in the fitting room. "That scared shit out of me," he confessed.

"Poor baby," Rachel cooed, her fingers playing with his hair at the nape of his neck. "You should tell Ms. Beiste everything this coming Monday, including that she might have stolen your phone number from somewhere or someone," she suggested. "Do you think the shop assistants would speak up for you? About what happened?"

"Oh," Finn pulled himself away from Rachel before taking the card out of his pocket. "The assistant in the panties section? Who you saw over there? She gave me this saying she could help if I needed when Ms. Owen was kicked out," he handed it out to Rachel.

Rachel narrowed her eyes. She was sure that the assistant girl didn't give her card to her boyfriend for the purpose of what he was thinking. But, _'keep your friends close. Keep your enemies closer,'_ right? "Okay, I keep it for you," she smiled at him, snatching the card from his hand. "And you should also ask Noah to send someone to keep an eye on her. Her behavior could have a way of escalating."

"Shit!" Finn shot his head up. He was completely forgetting about Puck, who had told him to bring Rachel to the station with him before Biff McIntosh could come up there.

"Shhhhhh!" Rachel covered his mouth with her hand. "Or we'll be caught. And what now?" she asked in a hushed tone, staring at him with a frown.

At the exact moment, soft knocks came from the door. "Everything's okay?" some sales assistant asked through the door.

Rachel gestured for Finn to be quiet, placing her forefinger on her lips before motioning for him to hide in the blind spot from the door. Having seen him moving from the stool to the spot where she had instructed, Rachel half-opened the door, handing the yoga pants she had already tried on out to the assistant, politely asking her to bring her the smaller ones.

After the assistant had brought the yoga capri as she had been told, Rachel turned to face Finn. "Where were we?" she whispered.

Returning to the stool with her, Finn briefed her on what Burt had informed of Al Motta and his daughters, and the reason why the Mohawk had come to their apartment building. "So, Puck thought that you might be the last person who had seen her and wanted to question you about the details before Biff could confirm the identification of the dead body," he glanced at the time on his wrist. It was 20 min. to 11 am.

Rachel tilted her head to one side, pursing her lips for a moment. "All he does is only confirm? To claim the body? What about her dental record? DNA test? Could the police prolong the time to hand over the body?" she rattled off questions.

"How would I know the protocol, Rach? You're asking the wrong guy," Finn made a face, looking at her, wondering when she got to know about things like that.

"Then call him," Rachel demanded.

"My phone is broken, remember?" Finn whined.

Rachel sighed as she tore herself away from him before starting to rummage into her purse to find her phone.

Now Rachel's ass was in front of Finn. _Oh, she's wearing cheeky panty today!_ He thought. It reminded him why he had snuck into this room in the first place, unconsciously extending his arm to her backside.

Rachel spun around, feeling his hand on her butt. "Finn!" she admonished. "I told you not to do that here!" she whisper-shouted.

"But we've not had sex from Monday!" Finn whined. He tried to pull her into him, only to earn a slap from Rachel, which made him pout. "We don't need the stinky balm anymore," he murmured.

Rachel rolled her eyes. "If you can't restrain yourself from having sex only for three or four days, how can you hold yourself while I'm postpartum," Rachel cupped her mouth, realizing that she was getting ahead of herself.

Fortunately, Finn seemed to try to remember Puck's grumbling how the Mohawk had been putting up with no sex life after Quinn's childbirth.

In fact, Finn was remembering Puck's grumble. And that led him to daydream as to what was like mini Rachel running after Rusty in the living room, which made his mouth half-opened and almost drool.

"Anyway," Rachel cleared her throat to get his attention, "we have a lot on our plate right now. Here," she placed her cell phone out on Finn's palm.

"Right," Finn complied, scrolling down the screen of her phone to find his best friend's number.

"_Too late, Berry."_

"It's Finn," Finn said, "and what do you mean, 'too late'?"

Finn heard Puck's sigh. Then Puck informed that Biff McIntosh with his lawyer had appeared 8:30 in the morning. And when the detective squad tried to explain that DNA testing should be carrying since there was no dental record or finger prints, Biff insisted with tears that it would be disrespectful to the dead body despite he had confirmed its identification.

"_But my boss is a lazy ass. He gave his consent for the handing over before I could leave for work."_

"What?" Rachel, who had been putting her ear on the back of her phone, snatched it from Finn's hand. "But I've seen Sugar this morning again! You guys are useless!" she whisper-shouted angrily.

"_I can arrest you for obstructing officers from performing our duty, Berry. Besides, we've got our hands full, you know, other more serious affairs."_

Bickering for a while later, Rachel finally hung up the phone before turning to look at her boyfriend, her face still red from anger at the lazy police officers. _Now probing into the truth is my responsibility!_ She decided. "Let's get out of here," she declared, staring gathering her stuff from the floor, putting her skirt on.

"Babe," Finn pulled her into him again before she could be fully clothed, "you heard that, the case is closed." He puckered his lips up, hiking up her skirt, before he started pressing his lips to hers, hoping it would calm her _and_ lead to having sneaky sex in the fitting room.

"Finn, no," Rachel tried to push his face away from her own, shaking off his hand. "Finn! NO!" Rachel shouted before realizing how loud she had shouted.

It was, however, too late for her to shut her mouth close. Loud knocks came from the door and they got caught by two sales assistants before they were forced to leave the dressing room and the shop.

After Finn had had to pay for two G-strings, one Cheekie, and a pair of yoga pants with his credit card, of course.

* * *

><p>While Finn felt disappointed with the dressing room fiasco, Rachel felt embarrassed and slightly hurt at the same time. Because, though she was relieved that her sunglasses kept in her purse had saved her from receiving from the disgusted looks that the people in the store had been sporting, nobody had seemed to recognize who she was—Rachel Barbra Berry, a rising star on Broadway. But, nothing she could do. It was not like all New Yorkers were willing to go see the shows on Broadway.<p>

Rachel straightened up, shaking he embarrassment and her wounded feelings off, before stretching her arm into the striped pink shopping bag in her boyfriend's hand.

"What're you doing?" Finn asked confused.

Ignoring his question, Rachel took the cheeky panty out of the bag. "Hold it here," she thrust it into Finn's other hand before rummaging her portable sewing kit into her purse and removing the price tag from the panty.

"W-what're you doing?" dumbfounded, seeing her try to shove the cheeky panty into the back pocket of his jeans, Finn asked again stammered.

"To warm it up, silly," Rachel answered matte-of-factly.

"But what for?" Finn looked over the street, making sure that they weren't getting any attention from anybody.

"You'll see," Rachel rubbed his arm up and down. "So?" she tried to change the subject.

"So what?"

"Did you come to realize why I've been mad at you?" Rachel asked, snuggling into his side, putting her hand into the same back pocket as the cheeky panty was stored.

"Uh, yes?" Finn answered absent-mindedly. Too many things going around in his head, he had not focused on the reason why.

"Then explain," Rachel demanded as they kept walking back to the hotel.

"Explain what?" Finn said stupidly.

Rachel rolled her eyes. Her boyfriend really had to listen to her, or the others for that matter. "Why have you kept the kiss with Quinn from me for so long?"

"Oh," that was why she had been mad at him, Finn thought. "So, you're not jealous?" fidgeted, Finn quietly asked, looking down at his girlfriend.

"It doesn't matter whether I got jealous or not, Finn," Rachel pinched his arm.

"Ouch," Finn jumped a little.

"So?" Rachel repeated.

Finn sighed before he started the story as to how he had ended up sharing a kiss with Quinn. That was the time right after Jenny had revealed her secret and they had broken up. Naturally, the rumor had spread like wildfire, which had harmed his popularity in the school. At that time, the glee club had been lack of funds for the members to go to the Sectional. Finn had come up with an idea of running a kissing booth, to regain his self-confidence and raise money for the glee club at the same time.

Sadly, throughout his running the booth, no girls had shown up to him, which had made him completely humiliated. Quinn, he didn't know whether or not she had been unable to stand by any longer, had approached him at the last minute, and put a dollar bill down on the booth, then kissed him (which had caused her in trouble because her then boyfriend had gotten furious).

"I felt useless for the glee club, and you know, humiliated more than ever," Finn finished.

"You should've told me," Rachel said in a sad tone. "You know that I've experienced that kind of humiliation as much as you have," _or worse_, she mentally added.

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry," Finn pressed his lips to her hair.

Finn wouldn't be lying if he said he hadn't grown his feelings for her at that time, but he had decided to stay away from her instead he had been in trouble too.

"So she was being nice to you," Rachel said, examining her boyfriend's face. "I would have a crush on her. Would you?" Finn seemed shocked at her accuracy. "You did," she concluded before something hit her. "Oh my Gosh, do you still have feelings for her? That's why you didn't tell me, isn't it?" she gasped, pulling her hand from his pocket, and herself away from him.

Finn had been afraid that she would be overreacting like now.

"No, no, baby, no!" He grabbed her arm to stop her from rushing into the hotel and made her look at him, putting his hands on her shoulders, bending over to the same eye level. "You and Quinn are friends now and I just didn't want you to be worried. That's it," he tried to soothe her, rubbing her arms up and down. "You know that I'm madly in love with you, Rach," he cupped her face in his hands before gently pressing his lips to hers. "I love you, Rachel, more than anything."

Still upsetting, but Rachel wrapped her arms around his torso, leaning her head against his chest. "I love you too, Finn, so much," she murmured.

"So, you forgive me?" Finn asked against her hair.

Rachel nodded in his chest, letting out a content sigh. When she pulled her face from his chest, her eyes caught the figure of the Jewfro. Which made her remember what she had to do now. "Finn?" she looked at him, "would you just go over there?" she pointed to the lounge space in the lobby, "I've got to talk to the hotel clerk," with that, she made her way over to the front desk.

A few minutes later, Rachel walked into the lounge and asked Finn to stand up from the arm chair. Then she pulled the cheeky panty from his pocket. "Wait here for a couple more minutes," she said, leaving before he could say anything to her.

A couple more minutes later, she returned to the place where Finn had been waiting. She shot him a big, mischievous smile at him, holding a spare card key up in front of his face. And she cheerfully announced. "Let's go!" she pulled him to get out of the arm chair.

"Finally! You're giving me your gummy bear and marshmallows!" Finn ginned, misunderstanding, taking her hand in his own.

"We'll save it for later, Finn," Rachel said, making a beeline for the elevator.

"What?" Finn looked at her with a frown. "Where's your panty anyway?" realizing that his girlfriend didn't have it in her hand, he asked in a hushed tone.

"I gave it to the Jewfro," Rachel answered nonchalantly.

"What? Why?"

"To exchange for this?" Rachel triumphantly showed the spare card key in front of his face again as they got into the elevator. Then she pressed the button of the 15th floor.

"For what? Did you lose your room key?" confused, Finn asked.

"I didn't lose my room key," she took her key from her purse. "See? Besides, I'm staying in a room on the 17th floor."

"Then where're we going? Have you reserved a separate room for me? Aren't you going to allow me to stay in the same room?" Finn still had no idea what Rachel was going to do with the spare key that she had gotten in exchange for the panty.

Rachel giggled, but said nothing, before getting out of the elevator. Then she motioned for him to come with her in the left direction. "Finn, come this way," she whispered, looking around the empty corridor.

Although he had a bad feeling in his stomach, Finn walked in her way.

Rachel stopped in front of one of the rooms on the 15th floor before looking up at Finn, gesturing for him to be quiet. Then she inserted the key and wrenched the door open slowly.

"Who is staying–"

"Shush," Rachel cut him off as she entered the room.

Finn reluctantly followed her to walk into, only until he bumped into the back of her tiny body. "Ow, I'm so–"

"Oh my God!" Rachel widened her eyes, cupping her mouth shocked.

"What–" Finn stopped himself from speaking.

He saw a body.

A male body face-downing on the floor.

Beside the bed.

"Oh my God," Finn gasped. "W-what are we supposed to do?"

Rachel stumbled into Finn's side, clasping his sleeve tightly in her hands. "W-we're going to check on him first," she swallowed thickly. She was now shaking. This was beyond the time when she had found Mrs. Weston face-downing on the floor. "You know, whether he's still alive or not, and, and, call the police," she managed to finish as she pushed Finn in the direction.

"Me?" Finn squeaked, asking dumbfoundedly.

Rachel nodded, gesturing for him to approach the body.

Finn had never expected this when he had left his, correction, _their_ apartment this morning.

One thing was for sure.

This was going to be a long day for Rachel and him.

* * *

><p><strong>Please review :)<strong>


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